Kunming eyes greater trade with SE Asia

The upcoming Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which will mark the creation of the world's largest free trade area, will increase Kunming’s role in regional trade with southeast Asian countries.

The RCEP accounts for about 30 percent of the world's population and global GDP and nearly 28 percent of international trade. In its simplest form, the RCEP can be seen as a framework for facilitating free, streamlined trade arrangements among its 15 signatory countries.

Shi Benzhi, dean of the School of Economics of Yunnan University, said the RCEP will bring new chances for Southwest China’s Yunnan province, as the province has an ASEAN-based foreign trade market.

By lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers between members and expanding market access to services and investment, the deal will promote regional trade and investment growth. It will boost each RCEP member's economic development to create a more prosperous, vibrant, and integrated regional market.

The ASEAN region is one of the regions where the internationalization of the yuan is progressing rapidly. Kunming can play an active role in promoting it, said Gong Gang, a professor at the Yunnan University of Finance and Economics.

Kunming also has the potential to experience greater opening-up and shape itself into an international center in the region, Gong added.

According to statistics, the total import and export volume of the city increased from 77 billion yuan($12.12 billion) in 2015 to 110 billion yuan in 2020. It has trade relations with 203 countries and regions, and 109 Fortune 500 companies and branches have invested in Kunming. The city’s direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative has increased by an average of 30.4 percent annually.

To embrace the RCEP, Kunming will improve its airlines and build an air network covering the capitals and major cities of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries and connecting the major aviation hubs of signatory members.

Kunming will support the construction of cross-border parks to integrate  cross-border industrial supply and value chains and boost the green economy, as well as upgrade and digitalize supply chains.

Chen Lijun, deputy dean of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, said the RCEP has created a chance for its members to team up to fight the epidemic, strengthen and expand public health care, enhance people exchanges and communication, and promote common development.