China Daily:

Just now, Mr. Lan mentioned that Guangxi has been continuously expanding opening up to the outside world and speeding up the building of a convenient place for business operation and the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. Could you elaborate on how this "convenient place" works? What are the specific measures? Thank you.

Lan Tianli:

Thank you for your questions. We understand that the country has entrusted Guangxi with the important mission of building a convenient place for business operation and the dual circulation of domestic and international markets, hoping that it can leverage its unique geographical advantages to better serve and integrate into the new development pattern while also promoting high-quality development through high-level opening up. The construction of this "convenient place" means vigorously improving the level of convenience in investment, trade, consumption, capital flow, personnel exchange, logistics and transportation. To this end, we will make efforts in the following aspects:

We will build a three-dimensional and efficient connectivity system. On the basis of connecting counties with expressways and cities with high-speed rail, we have built 36 highways that connect to other provinces, the sea and border areas. High-speed trains can reach 20 other provinces in the same day. The port of Beibu Gulf is connected to over 200 ports in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide. The aviation network reaches all ASEAN countries. We have basically formed a modern three-dimensional transportation structure integrating rivers and seas, combined transportation of sea and rail, coordinated development of water and land routes, and seamlessly connected air and ports, achieving fast and convenient access to the river and sea in the western region. Currently, we are accelerating the China-Vietnam smart port program. After the completion of the smart port, 24-hour uninterrupted, unmanned and intelligent customs clearance for goods will be realized. Goods from Nanning to Hanoi in Vietnam will be delivered within 24 hours, and goods to the four northern border provinces of Vietnam will be delivered within 12 hours.

We will build cross-border and cross-regional industrial and supply chains. We will build industrial parks along border and port areas and China-ASEAN industrial cooperation zone, as well as accelerate the development of cross-border and cross-regional industrial and supply chains within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area-Beibu Gulf economy zone and ASEAN. For example, Qinzhou has formed a petrochemical industry led by China National Petroleum Corporation and Guangxi Huayi New Material Co., LTD, and has initially established cross-border industrial chain cooperation with many ASEAN countries in the fields of chemical industry and new energy materials.

We will steadily expand institutional opening-up. Over the past years, we have established China-ASEAN mechanisms covering more than 40 areas including transportation and trade through the China-ASEAN Expo platform, and the Guangxi Pilot Free Trade Zone has explored 169 institutional innovations and promoted those practices across the country. We will comprehensively align with trade and economic rules under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), steadily expanding institutional openness in rules, regulations, management and standards to attract the aggregation of various factors, such as talents, capital, information, technology and others.

We will continue to improve the business environment. Guangxi has basically achieved the goal of "at the most having to visit one time" for government services. Starting a business requires only two steps and can be completed in just one day. A survey of the business environment among 10,000 private enterprises in 2023 conducted by All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce shows that Guangxi ranks among the top five provinces with the most significant improvement in the business environment. We will continue to optimize government services, production factors, law-based governance, the market and the environment for innovation, deepen the "Business-Friendly Guangxi" initiative, further reduce costs associated with production factors, logistics and institutional transactions as well as strive to create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized.

Thank you.