Suzhou launches a service platform for enterprises to make good use of opportunities brought by the RCEP on Jan 20. [Photo/suzhou-news.cn]
Suzhou released a platform providing services related to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to enterprises on Jan 20.
The new platform aims to help local enterprises in Suzhou make good use of RCEP's benefits in a convenient, efficient and accurate way by optimizing the user experience, integrating advantageous resources, and improving interaction mechanisms.
Focusing on enterprises' real needs, the platform can provide one-stop online services such as RCEP tariff rate inquiries, interpretations, consultations, and Q&A.
Users can search for tax rate data through the number of commodities based on the platform's database made of over 300,000 commodities traded between RCEP member countries.
The RCEP agreement, which took effect on Jan 1, covers roughly 30 percent of the world's population. It is expected to provide a strong boost to international trade and investment and enhance economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2021, the total industrial output of Suzhou's enterprises above designated size exceeded 4 trillion yuan ($630.8 billion), surpassing Shanghai and Shenzhen and making it the world's largest industrial city. Its total foreign trade exceeded $390 billion, a record high.
Suzhou has close economic and trade cooperation with RCEP member countries and its trade with such countries accounts for about 40 percent of the city's total. Suzhou's nanotechnology, biomedicine, high-end textiles, steel, and communication technology.