Chongqing to Consolidate ASEAN Market with Channel, Industrial Agglomeration | CPPCC Members

Chongqing- Focusing on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market, Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality was proposed to promote the channel and industrial agglomeration, and deepen two-way economic and trade cooperation with regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) countries, said Yang Min, a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), deputy chairman of the Banan District Committee of the Chinese Democratic League and Chairman of the supervisory board of Chongqing Highway Logistics Base Construction Co., Ltd.

In recent years, the ASEAN has become China’s largest trading partner, and the strategic position and important role of the New International Land-sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) have become increasingly prominent. 

Among them, the Chongqing Highway Logistics Base, located in Banan District, where Yang worked, is one of the four major hubs of ILSTC. 

However, Yang pointed out that single-road transport can no longer meet the development needs of enterprises to improve quality and efficiency. There is also a lack of road port platforms radiating the ASEAN region, which limits the distribution, processing, and trade development of imported goods.

Yang proposed that the ASEAN trade service headquarters base should be built to focus on the ASEAN market, to cultivate all sorts of business forms, including bonded logistics, international distribution, cross-border e-commerce, etc.

Furthermore, establishing a cross-border shuttle bus public service platform, an ASEAN business, cultural activity center, an ASEAN food industrial park, and a second-hand car export base will help Chongqing create a new business card for cooperation between Chongqing and ASEAN countries. 

The Chongqing cross-border highway shuttle bus is under inspection. (Photo/ Shangyou News)

Chongqing-ASEAN agricultural cooperation

In recent years, Chongqing has been cooperating with ASEAN in agriculture with positive results. On January 10, China (Chongqing) – ASEAN Online Business Matchmaking of Agricultural Products and Machinery was held by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Chongqing Committee. 

The conference invited 33 purchasers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam to conduct online talks with 36 agricultural products and agricultural machinery enterprises in Chongqing. The purchase involves lemon, citrus, tea, grapefruit, agricultural machinery, and other categories.

At the conference, ASEAN buyers showed great interest in Chongqing’s local products. For example, Indonesia Citrus Department Store and Chongqing Huida Lemon Technology Group signed a purchase intent agreement on agricultural machinery and lemons.

The Indonesian agricultural development platform said that Indonesia has a great demand for Chinese agricultural machinery products, planning to set up a Chinese agricultural machinery center in Indonesia to facilitate trade. 

(Tan Jingyue, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)