Cross border trade and investment are important components in promoting high-level opening-up to the outside world. Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration of Financial Regulation, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Coordination between Commerce and Finance and Supporting the High quality Development of Cross border Trade and Investment with Greater Efforts" (referred to as the "Opinions"), actively forming a greater synergy to support the high-quality development of cross-border trade and investment. How can "business+finance" collaborate and implement policies? What are the positive impacts on foreign trade, foreign investment, and outward investment? Responding to concerns - facing "old problems" and "new obstacles". On July 18th, 400 fresh roses from Kenya arrived at Changsha Huanghua Airport by plane. With the supervision and assistance of Changsha Huanghua Airport Customs, the entire process of declaration, port inspection, certificate processing, logistics information flow, etc. was completed in less than 2 hours. Subsequently, this batch of flowers was successfully exported to Uzbekistan. This is the first African flower transit trade in the country. We hope to leverage Changsha's advantage in shipping routes to Africa to increase the proportion of flower transit trade in the international market Huang Zinan, the person in charge of Hunan Xiyue Culture Media Co., Ltd., which applied for this transit trade, told our reporter that compared with one-way import and export, transit trade involves more countries, the exchange process is more complex, and the risk of exchange rate fluctuations is also greater. Foreign trade enterprises hope to obtain stable foreign-related settlement services. It would be even better if more RMB payments and settlements could be used in transit trade! "These expectations are precisely what the Opinion focuses on and responds to. The Opinion proposes 11 policy measures in 5 aspects, encouraging local commerce authorities to strengthen data interconnection and sharing while ensuring data security, and provide strong information support for banks and insurance institutions. Among them, in promoting the quality improvement and quantity stability of foreign trade, local commerce authorities will be encouraged to assist foreign trade enterprises in deepening their traditional markets and exploring and cultivating new export growth points. At the same time, encourage banking institutions to enrich and improve credit product services, promote commercial insurance institutions to focus on key import and export links, and improve insurance and claims services. In terms of optimizing the payment and settlement environment, encourage localities with conditions to promote multi-party linkage between government, banks, and enterprises, and help small and medium-sized enterprises reduce the cost of foreign exchange hedging. In terms of deepening foreign investment cooperation, we will improve the multi-level docking and cooperation between business regulatory authorities and policy oriented development financial institutions, promote local business regulatory authorities to guide the rational and orderly cross-border layout of key industries, and support banks and insurance institutions to optimize and improve their overseas network layout based on their own positioning and development needs. The person in charge of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Commerce introduced that the "Opinions" focus on solving the "old problems" of financing difficulties and high financing costs reflected by operating entities, as well as the "new obstacles" of financing bottlenecks, settlement checkpoints, and risk control pain points. It strengthens the normalized communication and exchange between the business and financial systems, deepens and implements the "overall to overall" and "individual to individual" cooperation, and promotes the deep integration and mutual promotion of cross-border trade, investment, and finance. At the same time, we will coordinate the promotion of development and risk prevention, and work together to do a good job in risk prevention and control under open conditions. In the past two years, in the field of cross-border trade and investment, the demand for "business+finance" services from business entities has been increasing. Since the beginning of this year, the exhibition markets in various countries have basically recovered to the scale and momentum of 2019, and the enthusiasm of Chinese enterprises to go global and expand overseas markets has significantly rebounded Wang Bingwen, Vice President of Guangdong Chaoyu Exhibition Co., Ltd., told our reporter that the demand for financial services for enterprises participating in exhibition activities overseas is mainly reflected in three aspects: first, credit insurance from order confirmation to product delivery; second, investment and financing needs for expanding production after order confirmation; and third, payment settlement. In Wang Bingwen's view, the "Opinions" have strong pertinence and timeliness, responding to the latest demands of enterprises for cross-border trade and investment, which is conducive to enhancing the confidence of enterprises to expand their markets overseas, and also conducive to obtaining support and convenience in terms of funds, insurance, and foreign exchange settlement in actual business. Improving Services - Financial Institutions Take More Practical Measures to "Strengthen Business and Financial Collaboration", How Can Financial Institutions Make Efforts? Not long ago, the China Development Bank held a 350 billion yuan financing window business promotion conference in Beijing to promote policy promotion and business promotion for key customers, deepen cooperation between government, banks and enterprises, and jointly serve and build high-quality development of the "the Belt and Road". At the meeting, China Development Bank signed cooperation agreements with seven Chinese and foreign partners, including Lao Zhong United Investment Co., Ltd., on projects related to overseas economic cooperation parks, infrastructure connectivity, China Europe freight trains, and the integration of "Silk Road Maritime Transport" ports and trade. The reporter learned that China Development Bank will provide a series of investment and financing products such as project loans, corporate financing, fund investment and bond issuance according to customer needs and project characteristics, and strive to meet the funding needs of the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" project. In practice, many financial institutions are also actively working to better serve the high-quality development of cross-border trade and investment. According to data released by China Export&Credit Insurance Corporation, as of the end of 2023, China Export&Credit Insurance Corporation has cumulatively supported domestic and foreign trade and investment worth over 8 trillion US dollars, driving nearly 300 banks to provide policy financing and credit enhancement support for export enterprises worth over 4.8 trillion yuan. In the first half of this year, China Export&Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) achieved a year-on-year increase of 9.7% in underwriting amount. In addition, China Export Credit Insurance Corporation and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank recently signed a Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, planning to strengthen cooperation in areas such as supporting foreign trade to promote stability and quality, increasing cooperation in project related businesses, innovating trade financing cooperation, and strengthening inclusive financial support, fully leveraging the risk protection and financing driving role of export credit insurance. The car seat headrests, bumpers, tool boxes, carpet molds and other products produced by Guhan Automotive Parts (Changshu) Co., Ltd. are exported to multiple countries such as Malaysia, Spain, Thailand, and Russia. With the growth of sales, the company's demand for funds continues to increase. At present, there is an increase in non cash bills such as acceptance bills in the automotive supply chain, resulting in longer payment cycles and delayed payments. The company needs financing support to expand production and enhance research and development capabilities. Guo Hengbing, the person in charge of the company, said that the small and micro enterprise transfer loan provided by the Jiangsu Branch of the Export Import Bank of China has lower costs, effectively alleviating the pressure of payment funds and laying the foundation for the company to improve its export capabilities. The introduction of the 'Opinions' has raised more expectations for open development among enterprises. The person in charge of the Jiangsu Branch of the Export Import Bank of China told our reporter that the bank is providing diversified financial services to meet the full cycle financing needs of science and technology innovation, growth oriented small and micro enterprises in Jiangsu Province, including production, research and development, and export. After the release of the Opinion, the bank will further focus on the characteristics and latest needs of Jiangsu's foreign trade industry, and make every effort to provide financial support for high-quality enterprises to "go global". Currently, although the risk of anti globalization still exists, Chinese enterprises going global has become a new development trend. The Opinion timely and effectively responds to the urgent needs of Chinese enterprises in areas such as corporate financing, foreign exchange management, cross-border trade settlement, legal protection, and risk prevention Yu Jian, Vice Dean of the China Macro Development Research Institute at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that as financial institutions further strengthen their cross-border trade and investment service capabilities, relevant business entities can respond more timely and effectively to external environmental uncertainties and challenges, and seize new opportunities for open development. Expectations are positive - actively integrating into the tide of open development. For foreign trade enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, and outward investment enterprises, the "Opinions" bring new benefits to cross-border business, making them more willing to actively integrate into the tide of open development. Expanding overseas markets gives more confidence - In June of this year, Sany Group signed a cooperation agreement with Saudi Global Ports for 80 electric container trucks, becoming another major overseas shipment made in China. The relevant person in charge of Sany Group stated that they will continue to strengthen the construction of overseas marketing channels, improve the overseas service parts system, accelerate overseas product research and development, and establish sustainable global business capabilities. The government is taking more and more measures to encourage high-quality development of foreign trade. At present, we are actively launching more new products to the international market and continuously improving our product market share, "said the person in charge. Deepening R&D layout in China - Liu Youbao, Chief Financial Officer of Louis Dreyfus Asia Pacific, told our reporter that last year the company established the world's second global R&D center in China to promote innovative development in food, specialty feed, and ingredients. The Opinion helps to reduce the operating costs and risks of enterprises, further optimizing the investment environment. Among them, optimizing the payment settlement environment and cross-border RMB services will help us explore new ways to better manage cross-border financial risks. China has a huge and resilient consumer market, and we hope to see more implementation details of the Opinion to promote the comprehensive development of foreign-funded enterprises, "said Liu Youbao. Fully committed to building regional headquarters - In June of this year, Fujifilm (China) Investment Co., Ltd. was approved as one of the first five financial centers in Shanghai Lujiazui Financial City, receiving more support in leveraging the functions of regional headquarters, fund operation, and supporting support. We feel from the 'Opinions' that China has a firm belief in further building an open platform, optimizing the business environment for foreign investment, and stimulating innovation and cooperation. Yao Jiafeng, the head of the General Manager's Office of Fujifilm (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said in an interview with our reporter that the company will continue to actively layout cutting-edge fields and be committed to the development and operation of business in the Chinese market. Seizing the opportunity of overseas investment - As of the first half of this year, Jitu Express has established 154 overseas transfer centers, successfully built 49 sets of automated sorting lines, and set up about 13000 outlets. This year, Jitu Express also plans to build four distribution centers in places such as Bansheen, Philippines and Selangor, Malaysia. Huang Jiawei, Director of Government Affairs at Jitu Express, said that the release of the "Opinions" has brought multiple positive impacts to overseas enterprises and provided a solid foundation for the long-term development of "going global" enterprises. I hope financial institutions can provide more professional cross-border risk management services to help us better identify and respond to external environmental risks, and ensure the stable development of overseas business, "he said. Currently, the uncertainty of the global economy cannot be ignored. In order for China to better promote "bringing in" and "going out" and achieve high-quality development of cross-border trade and investment, it also needs to provide more coordinated policy support in industries, finance and taxation, energy, technology and other fields Yu Jian said. (New Society)