Make every effort to promote the continuous recovery and upgrading of consumption; Closely track the situation of foreign demand and foreign trade, strengthen monitoring and early warning, and make policy reserves; Attach great importance to the decline in the scale of attracting foreign investment in the manufacturing industry and strengthen policy support... At the press conference of the state information office on March 1, the reporter of the economic reference daily learned that the Ministry of commerce is planning to launch a series of measures and arrangements in the fields of promoting consumption, stabilizing foreign trade and stabilizing foreign investment. Analysts pointed out that under the "triple pressure", the policy arrangements fully predict the situation, adhere to the principle of stability and seek progress while maintaining stability. With the implementation and effectiveness of a series of measures, the international and domestic markets and resources will realize more effective connectivity, give full play to their potential and open up more space for economic development. Actively respond to the downward pressure on consumption On the evening of March 1, the 2022 national consumption promotion month was launched in Beijing, opening the prelude to a series of consumption promotion activities nationwide. In the next period of time, consumer fairs, car carnivals, home consumption seasons and other consumption promotion activities will be held in various places through online and offline integration, so as to stabilize the consumption of key commodities. This is only an epitome of China's firm implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand and promoting the sustained recovery of consumption under the pressure of "demand contraction". Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said at the press conference of the state information office that consumption is an important engine of economic growth and a direct reflection of people's needs for a better life. In 2021, consumption continued to recover steadily, and the total retail sales of social consumer goods increased by 12.5%, becoming the first driving force of economic growth again. He also admitted that the pressure to stabilize consumption this year is not small. The data show that the downward pressure on consumption has increased since the fourth quarter of 2021. The growth rate of total retail sales of social consumer goods was 4.9% in October, 3.9% in November and 1.7% in December, showing a downward trend. Wang Wentao stressed that among them, basic consumption and aggregate consumption are most directly affected by the epidemic, catering, accommodation, retail and other industries have many difficulties, and small and medium-sized enterprises are facing great survival pressure. In the face of this situation, the Ministry of Commerce will firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand, coordinate the epidemic prevention and control and consumption promotion, do everything possible to promote the sustained recovery and upgrading of consumption, and enhance the fundamental role of consumption in economic development. Wang Wentao introduced that next, we will focus on the implementation of policies and enhance the vitality of the main body of the consumer market; Innovate ideas and methods and run consumption promotion activities well; Serve a better life and build a consumption upgrading platform. Among them, in terms of policy implementation, Wang Wentao introduced that according to the deployment of the State Council, 14 departments of the State Council jointly issued several policies to promote the recovery and development of difficult industries in the service industry, and put forward strong and targeted relief and assistance policies for relevant industries, especially small, medium and micro enterprises. "The first thing is to put these relief and assistance policies in place." In addition, on the premise of doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control, the Ministry of Commerce will summarize the experience and practices of consumption promotion activities last year and continue to organize and carry out a series of consumption promotion activities. Support qualified local governments to develop the first store economy and the first economy, expand new consumption such as customization, experience, intelligence and fashion, and develop green and healthy consumption. Promote foreign trade and foreign investment to make progress while maintaining stability As another important driving force of economic growth, foreign trade has also become the focus of policy support. In US dollars, in 2021, the scale of China's foreign trade import and export continuously exceeded US $5 trillion and US $6 trillion, reaching US $6.05 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 30%. Net exports of goods and services contributed 20.9% to economic growth. This year's foreign trade pressure is huge due to the high base, repeated global epidemics, unstable recovery momentum and other factors. In the face of difficulties and challenges, the Ministry of Commerce, in accordance with the unified deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, has appropriately advanced its policies, implemented four special actions, including cross cycle regulation, stable foreign trade, market diversification, smooth supply chain and innovation and quality improvement, and took multiple measures to stabilize foreign trade. "In the past two months, foreign trade has basically achieved 'open door stability'." Wang Wentao said. He also said that the next step would be to implement and reserve the stable foreign trade policy. It is understood that the Ministry of Commerce will work with all localities and departments to implement the "opinions on doing a good job in cross cycle regulation and further stabilizing foreign trade" issued by the State Council, and implement the tax reduction and fee reduction policies in place. Closely track the situation of foreign demand and foreign trade, strengthen monitoring and early warning, and make policy reserves. We will promote the construction of foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, cultivate a new batch of border people to exchange markets and implement processing pilot projects, further promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and cultivate trade double circulation enterprises. Build a demonstration area for innovative development of service trade, create a number of digital pilot areas for Global trade, and develop green trade. Not only is foreign trade under pressure, but the field of foreign investment will also usher in more measures to "maintain stability and promote excellence". Among them, in terms of stability, we will further relax foreign capital market access, give full play to the role of investment attraction of open platforms such as 21 pilot free trade zones, Hainan free trade port and 230 national economic open zones, give full play to the role of major exhibitions such as CIFIT and China International Expo, promote the docking of more projects and attract the signing and landing of projects. In terms of promoting excellence, increasing support for the manufacturing industry to attract foreign investment has become the focus. In 2021, the scale of attracting investment in manufacturing industry decreased by 4.6% compared with 2019, and the proportion decreased to 19.4%. "We are a big manufacturing country and are moving towards a powerful manufacturing country. We must pay great attention to the decline in the scale of attracting investment in the manufacturing industry." Wang Wentao said that in the next step, the catalogue of industries encouraging foreign investment will be revised and expanded to guide more foreign investment in advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, digital economy, green development and other fields. Previously, according to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, in January 2022, the actual amount of foreign capital used in China was 102.28 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%, and the opening momentum was good. Opening up China Unicom's internal and external markets at a high level While striving to stabilize consumption, foreign trade, foreign investment and other important fields, China is still opening up at a higher level to expand more space for economic development. Among them, the promotion strategy of the free trade zone has become an important starting point. Data show that up to now, China has signed 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions, with free trade partners covering Asia, Oceania, Latin America, Europe and Africa. The trade volume between China and its free trade partners accounts for about 35% of the total foreign trade. Wang Wentao made it clear that next, we will promote the implementation of the promotion strategy of the free trade zone from the three aspects of "expanding encirclement, improving quality and increasing efficiency", effectively connect the international and domestic markets and resources, provide institutional guarantee for a higher level of opening-up, and serve to build a new development pattern. Wang Wentao introduced that while promoting the release of dividends from the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP), China is also actively promoting its accession to the comprehensive and progressive trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (cptpp) and the digital economy partnership agreement (depa), and continues to promote the negotiation of free trade agreements with GCC, Ecuador, Israel, Norway, China, Japan and South Korea, Promote the upgrading of China ASEAN Free Trade Area version 3.0 and other free trade agreements, actively participate in the negotiations on new rules such as digital economy and environmental protection, and jointly promote regional economic integration, trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. These measures are regarded as an effective way to connect domestic and foreign markets. Nie Pingxiang, a researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told the reporter of the economic information daily that economic development needs to "keep the word steady and strive for progress while maintaining stability". This requires that, on the one hand, based on the domestic market, firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand, promote the stable recovery of consumption and reduce the negative impact of the external environment; On the other hand, promote high-level opening-up, create a good external environment for China's economic development, and better stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment. "Based at home, unblock the world, effectively connect the two markets and two resources through the coordinated efforts of the two markets at home and abroad, and speed up the construction of a new development pattern of double circulation, which will promote the stable and good development of China's economy and achieve high-quality development." Nie Pingxiang said. (Xinhua News Agency)