Good news from Zhengzhou Customs on June 1 -- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially went into force in the Philippines on June 2, marking the RCEP agreement entering into effect for all 15 members.
The RCEP has gradually become one of the most important new stages for Henan. In 2022, Henan's trade with the RCEP member countries increased 15.9 percent year-on-year to 255.22 billion yuan, accounting for 29.9 percent of the province's total foreign trade value. Despite the complexity of foreign trade, Henan's trade with the RCEP membersin the first 4 months this year reached 77.82 billion yuan,with a growth rate of 8.4 percent, higher than the provincial average. Particularly, its trade with the ASEAN countries saw a robust growth to 35.47 billion yuan, with a year-on-year rise of 25.8 percent.
"Preferential policies, tariff reduction in particular, provide local enterprises more opportunities," said a source from Zhengzhou Customs. From January last year to this May, Zhengzhou Customs has issued 7,480 RCEP certificates of origin for goods claimed to be worth more than 3 billion yuan. Under the RCEP, the local enterprises have enjoyed a tariff reduction of 2.177 million yuan.
The Philippinesis one of Henan's important trading partners. In the first 4 months, Henan's trade with the Philippines totaled 1.94 billion yuan, climbing 113.9 percent year-on-year. It is foreseeable that such trade volume will show steady upward trend in the future. Under the RCEP, 91.3 percent of cargo traded between China and the Philippines will be exempt from tariffs, which is bound to heat up bilateral economic and trade exchanges. (Chinese source: Henan Daily Reporter: Sun Jing Translator: Zhao Hanqing & Yang Jiaxin Proofreader: Ding Lan)
