Zibo city – located in East China's Shandong province – on Aug 3 initiated an action plan to boost the development of its cross-border e-commerce industries.
The Bureau of Industry, Information Technology and Commerce – in the Zibo High-tech Industrial Development Zone – and the Shandong Cross-Border E-Commerce Association, or SCBECA also signed a strategic cooperation agreement at the same time.
A strategic cooperation agreement is signed on Aug 3 by the Bureau of Industry, Information Technology and Commerce in Zibo and SCBECA. [Photo/WeChat ID: zibofabu2014]
During the activity, experts from SCBECA surveyed Zibo-based enterprises, including Zibo Zhaohai Light Industrial Products Co Ltd and Shandong Jinjing Science & Technology Stock Co Ltd. During a symposium, they provided solutions to commercial problems encountered by the businesses while engaged in cross-border e-commerce.
The Zibo bureau of commerce and SCBECA held a cross-border e-commerce themed training meeting. Heads of leading cross-border e-commerce platforms – such as Alibaba, Amazon, eBay and Google and sellers – provided the session to bolster the transformation and upgrading of the enterprises.
The expansion of cross-border e-commerce is widely seen as being of great significance for promoting foreign trade and for providing strong support for the new development pattern, in which domestic and foreign markets boost each other.
Zibo's total imports and exports in 2021 were worth 119.24 billion yuan ($17.67 billion), up 33.6 percent year-on-year – a performance seen as a breakthrough for the city, as it was the first time the value of foreign traded topped 100 billion yuan.
In the first half of this year, foreign trade hit 55.75 billion yuan, up 2.7 percent on the previous corresponding period. Moreover, cross-border e-commerce exports under the 9710 and 9810 customs supervision models exceeded those of last year, which provided support for the steady growth of the city's economy.
The implementation of a series of innovative measures – like the implementation plan issued on May 24 by the Shandong provincial government to build the proposed China (Zibo) Comprehensive Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone – is said to have paved the way for the further expansion of cross-border e-commerce in Zibo.
"It is beneficial for traditional industrial and trade enterprises to start cross-border e-commerce business," said Qin Changling, head of SCBECA.
"Enterprises in characteristic industries in Zibo should try to parallel B2B and B2C dual tracks and promote each other, to release greater development potential in the increasingly fierce competition," Qin added.
Participants said that the training provided practical help for them to master the knowledge and skills for cross-border e-commerce business and for them to improve their capacity to resist external risks.
