China to become a global leader in international trade by 2035

Almaty. December 27. Silkroadnews - China intends to become a global leader in international trade by 2035, China Daily reports.
“China has set a goal of building itself into a global powerhouse in international trade by 2035 through further reform and fine-tuning of trade structure, including upgrading the quality of goods and services consumed in the local market and improving the quality of two-way investment,” the agency quoted the country’s commerce minister Zhong Shan.
With this, he noted, to reach the long-term target, the ministry of commerce should further enhance China’s role in international trade before 2020, ensure sustainable growth in this area, effectively use foreign investment and ensure the Chinese companies to invest overseas in 2018.
“Next year, China will continue to deepen the cooperation and partnership with economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative and host an international imports exhibition to further boost trade and stimulate investment,” Zhong said.
According to Ma Yu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, the problems that China might face on this path include labor costs, environmental problems, lack of core technology and trade protectionism.
In turn, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Foreign Trade, Ren Hongbin, noted that although China still faces such issues as protectionism and outdated technologies in certain sectors, its perspective for next year will be promising due to the recovery of the world economy and tangible results of the structural reform. The country will increase imports and reduce import tariffs on certain goods to promote balanced trade.
Reportedly, China’s foreign trade volume has risen to 25.14 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) in January-November, up 15.6% compared to the same period last year.