A package of new measures featuring a multi-tiered and diversified financial integration system has been rolled out to facilitate the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a key logistics network connecting China's western regions to global markets, said a senior official on Thursday.
The measures were spelled out in a guideline jointly issued by the People's Bank of China -- China's central bank, the National Development and Reform Commission -- China's top economic planner -- and other competent central government departments, focusing on giving full play to the core functions of financing and settlement.
Speaking at a press conference, Chen Xinwu, executive vice mayor of Chongqing in southwest China, which is the operation center and core hub of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, briefed news media on how the measures will facilitate the construction of the corridor.
"For example, we will establish a new fund for the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in Chongqing, effectively gathering diverse sources of capital, including international and domestic investors as well as state-owned and private enterprises, to promote equity and debt financing, tackle challenges in fund raising for infrastructure construction and cross-regional industrial development, stimulate innovations in cross-border finance, supply chain finance, etc., and provide robust financial support for the construction of the corridor," Chen said in interpreting the guideline, officially known as the Opinions on Financial Support for Accelerating the Construction of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor.
Chen said that to foster in-depth integration of finance and logistics, the package of measures will also focuses on cross-border settlement and financing services for corridor logistics, deepen the innovation of exclusive financial products, and address challenges met by enterprises such as difficulties in financing and slow settlement.
"For example, we will accelerate the development of a single-documentation-based financial and insurance service system for multimodal transport, which not only enables single-time entrustment, single-time insurance, and single documentation throughout the whole process to reduce liability disputes in separate documentation-based land-sea intermodal transport, but also allows use of goods as collateral for financing during transit to accelerate capital turnover of enterprises, which will significantly enhance the credit accessibility and insurance coverage for logistics and foreign trade companies," Chen said.
The New Western Land-Sea Corridor connects the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the south, coordinating with the Yangtze River Economic Belt and playing a crucial role in China's coordinated regional development strategy. Since its pilot run in 2017, it has evolved into a strategic route linking China's inland regions with the markets of ASEAN countries and other parts of the world.
New measures rolled out to facilitate construction of western land-sea trade corridor: official
