Xi Jinping and Argentine President Fernandez send letters

President Xi Jinping recently sent letters with Argentine President Fernandez, and the two sides exchanged views on further deepening bilateral relations and cooperation in areas such as fight against the epidemic.

Xi Jinping stressed that since the President took office, we have been on the phone and sent letters to each other many times, reaching important consensus on deepening China-Arab relations and strengthening cooperation in areas such as the fight against the epidemic. The COVID-19 epidemic is a severe test for the whole world. The people of China and Algeria are in the same boat and help each other in the face of the epidemic, and the traditional friendship between the two countries has been sublimated in the fight against the epidemic. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Afghanistan in vaccine research and development and use, and continue to provide support and assistance to Afghanistan in fighting the epidemic. China attaches great importance to the development of China-Arab relations and is willing to work with Arab to promote high-quality cooperation in jointly building the "Belt and Road", promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and jointly lead the continuous and in-depth development of the China-Arab comprehensive strategic partnership. (People's Daily)

Wang Yi talks with Mexican Foreign Minister Ebrad on the phone

On December 31, 2020, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with Mexican Foreign Minister Ebrad on the phone at the invitation.

Wang Yi said that China has always regarded Mexico as an important strategic partner and will unswervingly promote long-term friendship between China and Mexico, and firmly support Mexico in developing its economy and improving people's livelihood. In April 2020, President Xi Jinping spoke with President Lopez on the phone to point out the direction for the two countries' anti-epidemic cooperation and the development of bilateral relations. China highly appreciates Mexico's positive contribution to the continued promotion of the construction of the China-Latin America Forum. The new year will bring new opportunities to China-Mexico and China-Latin America relations. China and Mexico should maintain high-level contact, deepen political mutual trust, push China-Mexico relations to a new level, and maintain development momentum of China-Latin America relations. (People's Daily)

Wang Yi: "Belt and Road" cooperation injects warm current into the global economic winter

Recently, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency and China Central Radio and Television Station, talking about the cooperation on the "Belt and Road".

Wang Yi said that the epidemic has caused serious impact on the world economy and has also brought some troubles to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". However, the "Belt and Road" cooperation has not only not stopped, but has moved against the trend and made new progress, showing strong resilience. (Xinhua News Agency)

The State Council Executive Meeting proposed four major measures to optimize the business environment

The State Council Executive Meeting held on January 4 proposed four major measures to focus on optimizing the business environment, further clearing the bottlenecks in implementation, and improving the level of legalization of the business environment.

The contents of the four major measures include: First, we must encourage eastern regions and provincial capital cities to benchmark international advanced and take the lead in trial, and support central, western and northeastern regions and non-provincial capital cities to promote significant improvement in the business environment through reform. Second, we must promote innovative measures such as "one industry, one certificate", "one enterprise, one certificate", and "joint certificate application" to give birth to more new market entities and operate according to market rules. Third, we must promote fair competition, promote market-oriented reform of government project bidding, standardize intermediary services, and increase the investigation and punishment of the "unwritten rules" of increasing corporate financing costs in the credit process. Fourth, we must focus on improving supervision efficiency, being open and controlled, further enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of on-site and post-event supervision, implement comprehensive supervision and joint law enforcement, and achieve full coverage of key supervision in areas such as life, health and safety of the people. (People's Daily)

Ministry of Commerce: China's investment in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 24.9%

Data released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that from January to November 2020, China's foreign non-financial direct investment was 659.36 billion yuan (equivalent to US$95.08 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 3.1%. The new contract amount for foreign contracting projects was 1382.82 billion yuan (equivalent to US$199.4 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%; the completed turnover was 834.96 billion yuan (equivalent to US$120.4 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 10.2%. 255,000 labor personnel of various types were sent for cooperation in foreign labor services, and 635,000 labor personnel of various types were sent for cooperation in foreign labor services at the end of November.

Statistics show that from January to November, China's non-financial direct investment in countries along the "Belt and Road" was US$15.96 billion, an increase of 24.9% year-on-year, accounting for 16.8% of the total amount in the same period, an increase of 3.9 percentage points over the previous year. The newly signed contracts in countries along the route were US$114.38 billion, with a turnover of US$70.87 billion, accounting for 57.4% and 58.9% of the total amount in the same period respectively. (International Business Daily)

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China's total scale of foreign investment has reached a new high

Relevant statistics show that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China's total foreign investment will reach about US$690 billion. China is also one of the few major economies in the world to absorb foreign capital and maintain growth during the epidemic. It is expected that the actual use of foreign capital in 2020 will exceed US$140 billion, setting a new record high. The relevant person in charge of foreign-funded enterprises interviewed by the reporter said that China's acceleration of the construction of a new development pattern and further expanding opening up will provide more opportunities for the development of enterprises in various countries. (People's Daily)

Six departments take measures to optimize cross-border RMB policies

In order to do a solid job in the "six stability" work, fully implement the "six guarantees" tasks, and promote the formation of a new development pattern with the domestic circulation as the main body and the domestic and international circulations mutually promoting each other, the People's Bank of China, together with the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce and other six departments, recently, the People's Bank of China jointly issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing Cross-border RMB Policy Supporting Stabilization of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment", which will be implemented from February 4, 2021.

The Notice includes five parts, a total of fifteen articles, covering five aspects: promoting the facilitation of RMB settlement at a higher level of trade and investment based on the needs of the real economy, further simplifying the cross-border RMB settlement process, optimizing cross-border RMB investment and financing management, facilitating cross-border RMB collection and payment under individual current accounts, and facilitating the use of RMB bank settlement accounts of overseas institutions. (People's Daily)

Congo and China signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road"

On January 6 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Congo's Minister of State and Foreign Minister Tomba in Kinshasa. After the talks, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding between the two governments on jointly promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road".

Wang Yi said that the "Belt and Road" is an important international cooperation initiative, and is committed to promoting all countries to give full play to economic complementarity, connect with development strategies, form a development synergy, and achieve common development and prosperity. (People's Daily)

China and Egypt sign letter of intent for cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine

The signing ceremony of the China-Egypt letter of intent on cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines was held in Egypt on December 31, 2020.

Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang said that the signing of the China-Egypt Letter of Intent on Cooperation for Coronavirus Vaccine will effectively promote relevant institutions in the two countries to strengthen cooperation in the research, development, production and use of new crown vaccines. The signing of the letter of intent is a vivid interpretation of the joint construction of a health community between China and Egypt. (People's Daily)

Belarus says it will promote the connection with the Belt and Road Initiative in terms of logistics

The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on December 31, 2020 that during his tenure as the rotating presidency of the CIS in 2021, Belarus will promote the docking of China's "Belt and Road" initiative in terms of logistics.

In the work concept of the 2021 CIS rotating presidency released by the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the same day, it said that during the 2021 CIS rotating presidency, Belarus will strive to promote the development of international transportation channels and strengthen the construction of transportation infrastructure, and promote docking with China's "Belt and Road" initiative in related fields. (Xinhua News Agency)

China-Hungary's practical cooperation continues to deepen

In 2020, facing the challenges of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China's economic and trade cooperation with Hungary rose against the trend, investment and trade volume increased significantly, cooperation projects were steadily advancing, and cooperation mechanisms were constantly innovating. From January to November 2020, the bilateral trade volume between China and Hungary reached US$10.68 billion, an increase of 13.6% year-on-year. China became Hungary's largest source of foreign investment for the first time. Hungarian Finance Minister Walgo said that the pragmatic cooperative relationship between Hungary and China is an example, whether in the fields of trade, investment or finance. (Xinhua News Agency)

The African continent free trade zone officially launched

The African continent free trade zone has been officially launched, and African countries will participate in global economic activities with a new look of a unified large market. It is predicted that with the full implementation of the African continent's free trade agreement, Africa will increase its real income by nearly US$450 billion by 2035, and 30 million people are expected to get rid of extreme poverty. (People's Daily)

Tianjin Port's sea-rail transport throughput exceeded 800,000 TEU this year

On December 28, 2020, a train of freight loaded with more than 800 tons of export goods from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, including bicycles, furniture, hardware, luggage, clothing, gauze, sugar, etc., was sent from China Railway Tianjin Container Center Station and will be transported by China-Europe Express to Almaty, Tashkent and other regions in Central Asia after gathering in Urumqi. With the successful departure of this China-Europe freight train, Tianjin Port's sea-rail intermodal transport throughput exceeded 800,000 TEU in 2020, an increase of more than 40% year-on-year, setting a record high of the best in history. (China News Network)

The first train of China-Europe Express (Chengdu and Chongqing) departs

On the morning of January 1, 2021, Chongqing and Chengdu also dispatched the first train of the 2021 China-Europe Express (Chengdu and Chongqing). The two China-Europe freight trains, full of electronic products, mechanical parts and smart home appliances, headed westward to Duisburg, Germany and Rhodes, Poland in Europe.

In 2020, nearly 5,000 China-Europe freight trains were launched in Chengdu and Chongqing, with a total of 14,000 trains in previous years, accounting for more than 40% of the total number of trains in the country. (People's Daily)

Chongqing City held a meeting of the Leading Group for Promoting the Construction of the "Belt and Road"

Recently, Tang Liangzhi, deputy secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and mayor, emphasized at the meeting of the Chongqing Municipal Leading Group for Promoting the Construction of the "Belt and Road" that it is necessary to thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on opening up to the outside world and important instructions and requirements for Chongqing, pay more attention to planning a region from the overall perspective and serving the overall situation with one region, fully integrating into the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", implementing opening up to the outside world at a larger scale, wider areas and deeper levels, and strive to take the lead in opening up and drive opening up in the western region.

China-Europe Express (Grown Europe) will be launched for the first 100 standard boxes in the new year

On January 2, the China-Europe Express (Changman Europe) set off at Changchun International Road Port with a full load of 100 standard containers of goods, heading west to Nuremberg, Germany. It is reported that this is the first launch of the China-Europe Express (Gaoman Europe) in the New Year, mainly carrying products such as automobile parts, plates, mechanical parts, and epidemic prevention materials.

Since its launch in 2015, the China-Europe Express (Changman Europe) has always adhered to a steady operation trend. As of the end of 2020, a total of 57,998 standard containers of goods were carried, with a cargo value of RMB 13.5 billion. Among them, a total of 9,804 standard containers of goods were carried in 2020, with a cargo value of about 3.09 billion yuan and 107,900 tons of goods were carried, an increase of 11.6% year-on-year. (Jilin Daily)