Boao Asia Forum Qingdao Kaitan

Yesterday, the "Boao Asia Forum Asia Free Trade Agreement Forum 2013" was held in Qingdao. In the one-day forum, "Asia's production network and free trade agreement", "regional economic monitoring", "regional comprehensive economic partnership and WTO" and "subregional cooperation plan: infrastructure, trade and investment" 4 Topics. More than 200 government officials, experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs representatives took part in the discussion to discuss the construction of the Asian Free Trade Area and promote the Asian economic integration process.

Diversified Integration: Breaking the "Bowl Effect"

In 2012, the Asian economic growth rate was 6.6%, and its contribution to world economic growth exceeded 50%, becoming an important engine for global economic growth. On this basis, according to statistics, only East Asian countries have signed 63 free trade agreements, accounting for one-third of the world, and the Asia Free Trade Area is entering a new phase of multi-promotion.

The rapid development of the free trade zone and the acceleration of the integration of the Asian economic value chain also brought pressure and turmoil. At the forum, He Hezheng, director of the Asian Development Bank Institute, said that at present, there are overlaps in the Asian Free Trade Zone, which will affect the development of trade. The integration of different free trade agreements and the formation of regional comprehensive economic cooperation will become the top priority for development. The "bowl effect" is now in Asia. In economics, there are more and more bilateral free trade agreements in a region. The development is booming, various trade laws and regulations overlap, regional trade arrangements will be more exclusive, and it is more difficult for countries and regions outside the “system” to enter the system.

Song Leilei, director of the Asian Development Bank's regional economic integration office, said that in the Asia-Pacific region, regional cooperation that is easier to implement has in fact been almost completed. The next regional cooperation is very challenging and the Asian “bowl” effect is difficult to deal with.

"The "bowl" effect involves very complicated non-tariff trade measures, and it hopes to continuously optimize, simplify and integrate it." Rajat Kathuria, director and chief executive officer of India's Council of International Economic Relations, believes that "all of our work is crucial." It is to solve the problem of non-tariff barriers, and we will face a series of challenges.” Vignaraj, director of the Research Department of the Asian Development Bank Institute, said that effective measures should be taken to curb non-tariff trade barriers. Solving concealed trade protectionism is the key to the current promotion of Asian economic integration.

Obviously, the Asian Economic Free Trade Area is looking forward to efficient integration. "TPP and ASEAN have included the world's three largest economies and four of the world's top ten trading nations, covering 32% and 28% of the world's trading nations. This has become the cornerstone for the future integration of the Asian Free Trade Area." Yu Jianhua said on behalf of Yu Jianhua that the most ideal state for the multi-integration of the Asian Free Trade Zone is the opening of different free trade zones to form a unified, efficient and integrated free trade zone.

Regional Economic Cooperation: A Note to RCEP

In November 2012, 10 ASEAN countries and leaders of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand jointly issued the "Joint Statement on Launching (RCEP) Negotiations" and formally launched the construction of a free trade zone covering 16 countries. The current promotion of RCEP has attracted much attention.

Zhou Wenzhong, secretary general of the Boao Forum for Asia, commented: “ECEP is an effective measure to cope with the shrinking external demand in Asia brought about by the financial crisis and the European debt crisis, and is more conducive to the further integration and enhancement of increasingly important production supply chains in the region.” For RCEP In this forum, scholars and experts made concerted efforts. The RCEP consists of 16 "economic institutions, each with obvious differences, and must adhere to the principle of "common + differentiated treatment."" Singapore International Affairs Research Institute, despite Xie Xiuyu, a senior researcher from 16 countries, suggested that

It is very difficult to reach consensus, but this process does not start from scratch. We can make full use of the existing "ASEAN+6" mechanism and strive to complete the RCEP infrastructure in 2015. “At the beginning of June, China-ASEAN established three trade associations for textiles, apparel, footwear and food cooperation. As trade associations represent the interests of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs are the ultimate recipients of the free trade agreement. As a result, the two parties immediately followed the agreement and quickly reached a consensus and signed an agreement.” Xu Ningning, the deputy secretary general of the China-ASEAN Business Council, believes that in order to create complementary industrial chains, countries in the region should strengthen industrial planning and communication. Among them, trade associations can play an active role in "probing the road" during special periods.

RCEP, a new model in the Asian economic integration process, is having a profound driving force for Asian economic development. Xu Ningning judged that this will be the latest product of the regional economic integration development. The open cooperation mechanism will directly affect regional economic cooperation and development in the future, and it will also create new opportunities and challenges for the development of enterprises. If RCEP succeeds, it will further consolidate the global economic forces from the West to Asia.

"Sub-region": "China's border" "westward"

In view of the unequal economic development in Asia, based on different social and economic focuses, the combination of national and regional emphasis is of utmost importance. The forum also discussed the “sub-regional economic cooperation mechanism” with a view to improving the sub-regional infrastructure, expanding trade and investment, and ultimately achieving mutually beneficial cooperation among developing economies. “The Greater Mekong Subregion is developing very fast, from 10% to 20%, which fully demonstrates how trade can promote economic growth.” Sudi Pan, Director of the Global Network of Thai Jura, stated that the development of GMS in the Greater Mekong Subregion It promotes cooperation among various countries and regions, brings together various resources, and achieves efficient use, leading to a development model of cooperation and win-win. In the Greater Mekong Subregion, including the two provinces of Guangxi, China and Yunnan, “China’s Yunnan Province plays an important role in our sub-region, and Guangxi Nanning is our foothold and an important base point.” The development of the Greater Mekong Subregion has played a decisive role.

At the same time, China’s “sub-regional” development is also rapidly advancing. Zhang Yansheng, secretary general of the Academic Committee of the National Development and Reform Commission, revealed at this forum that the next step in China’s opening up to the outside world will be to pay more attention to the opening up of border areas and pay more attention to opening up to the west in the central and western regions. Under such circumstances, the opening of the Greater Mekong and Tumen River areas will become the focus of China's next-step cooperation in the sub-region. “Our cooperation in the region requires a low-carbon, environmentally-friendly and sustainable development cooperation.” Zhang Yansheng also suggested that the sub-regional green transition should be explored, and at the same time, sub-regional inclusive development should be achieved. To further enhance the overall competitiveness of the region and provide support for the development of Asian economic integration.