China promises policies to boost foreign trade

A container ship docks at the Port of Ningbo, East China's Zhenjiang province. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China will adopt various measures to boost foreign trade as the sector is still under considerable pressure, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

Policy priorities will include eliminating unreasonable charges on exports and imports, alleviating financing difficulties for enterprises and facilitating trade and investment, said Zhang Ji, assistant minister of the MOC.

Pilot projects including cross-border e-commerce and market procurement will be advanced, Zhang said at a briefing on the upcoming 120th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, scheduled for Oct 15- Nov 4 in China's southern city of Guangzhou.

China will continue to build an international and law-based business environment, actively cope with trade frictions and strengthen intellectual property protection to boost imports and exports, said Zhang.

Despite mounting downward pressures, China's foreign trade fundamentals have not changed and China's competitive edge in industry has not changed, he said.

In the first eight months of the year, China's foreign trade was down 1.8 percent from a year earlier, with exports dropping 1 percent and imports falling 2.9 percent.

The weak performance comes against a backdrop of flagging trade growth worldwide. Last year was the fourth consecutive year that global trade growth was below GDP growth, according to the World Trade Organization.