On January 1 this year, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was completed as scheduled. This includes a free trade zone with a population of 1.9 billion, 6 trillion US dollars of GDP, and 4.5 trillion US dollars. This has enabled Chinese entrepreneurs to see the new Nuggets. opportunity.
"After the completion of the Free Trade Zone, there will be many business opportunities. We must build a new 'farmers' overseas!" Yang Haikong, general manager of Guangxi Nongken Group Co., Ltd. said excitedly to reporters.
In recent years, the investment of Guangxi Agricultural Reclamation Group in overseas markets has been concentrated almost exclusively in ASEAN countries. In October 2007, the total amount of 42 projects signed with companies in Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries reached 18.85 billion yuan. The cooperation involved industrial zone development, bio-chemical, agricultural planting, agricultural product processing and other fields.
As a large internal combustion engine manufacturer in China, the diesel engine of Guangxi Yuchai was exported to Vietnam in the 1960s. In recent years, with the help of the “Dongfeng†of the China-ASEAN Expo, Yuchai has been increasingly recognized by ASEAN countries. At present, the ASEAN countries have more than 30,000 Yuchai engines. Among them, in 2009, Yuchai exported more than 13,000 engines to ASEAN countries.
“Yuchai Group has set up offices in five more important ASEAN markets including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. The establishment of the Free Trade Zone will make ASEAN countries one of the important regional markets of Yuchai.†Guangxi Yuchai Liang Bing, deputy general manager of Overseas Marketing Department of Machinery Group Co., Ltd. said.
Guan Yueqing, chairman of Guangxi Investment Group, believes that the completion of the free trade zone will be a rare opportunity for Chinese companies to adjust their industrial structure.
“Tariff reduction, non-tariff barrier reduction and the realization of investment and trade facilitation make most of the raw materials such as coal, alumina and pyrite required for the development of Guangxi Investment Group can be purchased from ASEAN countries, and the fertilizer and aluminum produced by the group. Deep-processing products can be exported to ASEAN countries, and the two sides complement each other to achieve win-win cooperation," he said.
Not only Guangxi enterprises are optimistic about the ASEAN market, but entrepreneurs in Shanghai and Beijing are also enthusiastic about this market.
Yu Jianming, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government's Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission, believes that Southeast Asian countries with resources as the mainstay and China with economic restructuring have strong complementarities. At the same time, most of the ASEAN countries are building infrastructure on a large scale, which will be an opportunity for rapid development of Shanghai's foreign engineering contracting.
In the past five years, the volume of import and export trade between Shanghai and ASEAN countries has maintained double-digit growth every year. In terms of foreign engineering contracting, Shanghai has undertaken 54 ASEAN projects in the past five years. The total contracted value reached US$6.2 billion, driving exports of US$2.3 billion.
“After the completion of the Free Trade Zone, more than 90% of the products will be subject to zero tariffs, which will greatly reduce the investment cost. Our investment projects in ASEAN countries will be more vital.†Luo Tao, General Manager of China Nonferrous Mining Group Co., Ltd. is confident of the future. .