June 15, 2022
BEIJING – opened a service center for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership on Monday in a move to help local enterprises make better use of the Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, and to enjoy its benefits.
The launch of the Shenzhen Service Center of RCEP comes at a time when the city and RCEP members are forging closer economic ties.
According to official statistics, foreign trade between Shenzhen and RCEP members amounted to 353.9 billion yuan ($52.5 billion) in the first five months, growing 1.2 percent year-on-year.
The service center will play an active role in helping local businesses get a deeper understanding of the tariff reduction and trade facilitation measures that RCEP is providing, further promoting trade
The service center will play an active role in helping local businesses get a deeper understanding of the tariff reduction and trade facilitation measures that RCEP is providing, further promoting trade, according to the city’s commerce bureau.
It will also help them better tap the investment opportunities in RCEP member countries and expand international markets, it said.
The service center was jointly launched by Shenzhen’s commerce bureau, customs, trade promotion committee, justice bureau, and court of international arbitration.
Since the official implementation of RCEP on Jan 1, a number of Shenzhen enterprises have benefited from the world’s largest free trade agreement, whose signatories include the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
A total 8,380 RCEP certificates of origin were issued in the city from January to May.
Shenzhen-based supply chain company YH Global said 10 million yuan in tariffs are expected to be saved annually under the RCEP agreement. The company exported $50 million worth of goods to RCEP member countries last year.
Sha Bigao Instrument (Shenzhen) Ltd, which mainly exports car fragrance to Japan, said import tariff has been cut from 3.9 percent to 3.5 percent, which is expected to save the company 1 million yuan annually.