Recently, relevant provincial departments issued Nanjing's "Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Cross-border E-commerce Pilot Zone", and specific measures will be implemented in the near future. This is an important progress for Nanjing in the field of cross-border e-commerce since it was selected as a pilot city in the third batch of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones last year.
Becoming a pilot city for the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone is undoubtedly of great significance to the transformation and upgrading of Nanjing's foreign trade industry and the development of new business forms. Compared with Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other pilot cities, Nanjing should not only learn from successful models and advanced experiences, but also take advantage of favorable policies to enhance its own trade capabilities. In accordance with the requirements of high-quality development and the new vision of "a famous city of innovation and a beautiful ancient capital", it should further expand the pace of opening up and actively explore innovative achievements with local characteristics, adding new impetus to Nanjing's "selling to the world" and "buying from the world".
At the first CIIE held in November last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced major measures for China to further expand opening up, including reducing institutional costs in the import process, accelerating the development of new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce, creating a world-class business environment, and building a new high ground for opening up to the outside world. These measures fully demonstrate that the new pattern of comprehensive opening-up has become a necessary condition for promoting high-quality economic development. Only by clearly seeing the new changes in the supply side of the world economy and deeply participating in the international division of labor and cooperation in the industry can we take the initiative and gain the upper hand in the new round of competition.
At present, Nanjing is an important hub city at the intersection of the "Belt and Road", but its deep participation and expansion of opening up are not enough. We must raise our position, actively integrate into the national grand strategy, and accurately grasp the new requirements and new opportunities for regional open development; deeply understand our historical position, coordinate and plan our own development goals and paths, give full play to our own location, resource endowment, industrial system and other advantages, and contribute "Nanjing strength" to regional development and national strategy.
A few years ago, Nanjing took the lead in the province to plan and build two cross-border e-commerce industrial parks, Longtan and Airport, forming a certain industrial agglomeration trend. However, because it was not a cross-border e-commerce pilot project, it was subject to many restrictions and its development was not sufficient. After Nanjing becomes a pilot city, as transaction costs drop significantly and service efficiency improves, it will inevitably drive entrepreneurship and employment in related fields, stimulate market vitality and reconstruct Nanjing's foreign trade format. Against this background, the "Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Cross-border E-commerce Pilot Zone" puts forward objectives and requirements for the next stage of work, clarifies the main tasks, and establishes relevant mechanisms and safeguards. What we need to do is to “construct according to the plan” and promote the construction and development of the comprehensive experimental zone in a strong, orderly and effective manner.
The development status of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone is mainly measured by indicators such as transaction scale, growth space, industry penetration, supporting environment, and platform aggregation. These indicators are closely related to a city’s economic development level, degree of openness, business environment, and entrepreneurial and innovative atmosphere. They also complement Nanjing’s main direction of improving its urban primacy and urban level. We will earnestly promote the construction of a comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone and strive to become a pilot city with the most comprehensive business coverage, the fastest business growth, the best regulatory innovation model, and the strongest industrial agglomeration effect. Nanjing will also take greater steps to expand opening up at a high level and in all directions, and take a new step in building an international city.
