RCEP boosts Yiwu's foreign trade
Yiwu, a county-level city in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang province, has issued a total of 4,521 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership certificates of origin for exports worth $87.28 million to RCEP member states in the first 10 months of this year.
These RCEP certificates of origin have reduced import tariffs on exported goods by over $925,000, according to official data. To date, a total of 2,034 products have enjoyed zero tariffs under the RCEP.
One beneficiary of the certificates is Zhejiang Mengna Socks Co Ltd, which has obtained 252 RCEP certificates of origin for exported goods worth over 2.26 million yuan ($321,815.7) in the first 10 months of this year.
Dong Cuiqing, director of the company's foreign trade department, said that the RCEP certificates of origin allow for a 0.8 percent tariff reduction on their socks exported to Japan, greatly improving the competitiveness of their products in the international market.
Since the official implementation of the RCEP, Yiwu has provided precise guidance on the application of RCEP policies to enterprises in its jurisdiction through offline and online channels. So far, more than 35 such events have been carried out online, benefiting more than 3,000 local enterprises.
The RCEP involves 10 ASEAN member states, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The 15 states account for about 30 percent of the world's total population, gross domestic product and trade.
More than 90 percent of goods traded between member countries will eventually be subjected to no tariffs, according to the agreement.