In order to strengthen the experience summary and exchange between Zhejiang Province’s foreign trade early warning demonstration points, further deepen and improve the construction of early warning points, and serve the overall situation of transformation and upgrading to cope with trade frictions, the Zhejiang Province Foreign Trade Early Warning Demonstration Point Summary and Exchange Conference and the Launching Ceremony of the Lawyers’ Mission in Foreign Trade Early Warning Demonstration Point Service Week were held in Shaoxing from March 30 to 31, 2010. Vice Mayor He Zhongwei of the city attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Xia Xiang, Deputy Commissioner of the Fair Trade Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, Han Jie, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Commerce, and Wu Qiangjun, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Justice, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. This meeting awarded the licenses to 19 provincial foreign trade early warning demonstration sites that passed the acceptance inspection in 2009, and officially launched the service week for lawyers stationed in foreign trade early warning demonstration sites jointly organized by our department and the Provincial Department of Justice. More than 150 people from foreign economic and trade bureaus of various cities and counties, 50 foreign trade early warning demonstration sites, and lawyer representatives attended the meeting.
At the meeting, Xia Xiang, Deputy Commissioner of the Fair Trade Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, introduced the trade frictions encountered throughout the country in 2009 and predicted the trend of international trade frictions in 2010. In 2009, China encountered a total of 116 trade friction cases, involving a total amount of 12.7 billion yuan, accounting for 43% of the total number of global trade remedy investigations. The situation this year is not optimistic. He pointed out that in the new era, it is necessary to fully understand the strategic, long-term, and systematic characteristics of fair trade work, with the goal of creating a good, stable, fair, and predictable international trade environment for import and export enterprises, actively respond to it, effectively protect it, and do a good job of fair trade work through government negotiations, technical defense, and industry cooperation. He believes that early warning is a very important work, and the construction of foreign trade early warning demonstration sites in Zhejiang Province is unique and innovative, with new ideas, practical measures, and practical significance. Through comprehensive early warning, we can effectively prevent and resolve trade friction, and lay a good foundation for coping with friction, adjusting industrial structure, and promoting industrial upgrading. He highly praised this.
In 2009, the province encountered 90 trade friction cases, involving a total amount of 3.607 billion, with a significant increase compared to the previous year. In his speech, Deputy Director Han Jie introduced the basic situation of business development and international trade frictions encountered in the province in 2009, reviewed and summarized the construction of early warning demonstration points. He pointed out that the international trade frictions faced by our province in 2010 will become more complex and severe, not only developed countries but also developing countries will be chasing and blocking us. Therefore, adjusting the industrial structure of enterprises and accelerating transformation and upgrading has become an “urgent” trend. He fully affirmed the achievements achieved and the important role played by the construction of early warning demonstration sites. The construction of early warning sites has received high attention from local governments and active cooperation from enterprises. The undertaking units of early warning sites have made active efforts to fully utilize the resource advantages of business associations, expand their thinking, innovate their methods, and have made many achievements in information release, response guidance, business training, and industry self-discipline, Their practical work has further enriched the connotation of early warning work and effectively raised foreign trade early warning work to a new level. He emphasized that early warning is the top priority of fair trade work in our province, and proposed four requirements for the next step of foreign trade early warning work: firstly, the construction of early warning points should focus on forming a comprehensive and three-dimensional network; The construction of early warning points should focus on the main line of promoting economic transformation and upgrading; The construction of early warning points should focus on improving their own ability level; Fourthly, the construction of warning points should pay attention to both hands, and both hands should be firm, fully utilizing international trade relief rules to defend and protect legitimate rights and interests.
This meeting also launched the “Lawyer Group’s Service Week Activity at Foreign Trade Warning Demonstration Points”, deployed the work of the service week activity, proposed relevant work requirements, and awarded the flag to the lawyer group. At the same time, there was also a business training on fair trade work, and Ms. Zhang Jinding and Pu Lingchen, a senior lawyer from Zhonglun Law Firm, were invited from the Fair Trade Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce to educate participants and local enterprises in Shaoxing on trade barriers and responses, as well as on the correct positioning, adjustment and integration, and counter thinking and counterattack of export enterprises in the face of trade frictions. The excellent content attracted more than 300 people to participate in the meeting.
Since 2007, our department has started the construction of foreign trade warning demonstration points in Zhejiang Province in accordance with the principle of “industry based, industry and enterprise participation, and government guidance”. As of the end of 2009, we have established “foreign trade warning demonstration points” in 50 blocky industries with high sensitivity to international trade friction in our province, and have initially formed a warning network covering industries with high export-oriented and trade friction sensitive industries in the province.