On the west side of the Fuxingmen overpass, a white building is shaded by the only plane tree on Chang'an Avenue. Among the many landmarks of this avenue, it is not unusual. However, when the lights are on, the golden CCPIT logo on the roof of the building shines, attracting the attention of passers-by and radiating a unique historical light that is similar to the temperament of Chang'an Street.
Many people don't know that this building is closely related to the development of New China's foreign trade and economic cooperation, and has witnessed the glorious past of reform and opening up - it is the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (hereinafter referred to as the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade) - which is an indispensable chapter in the story of Chang'an Street.
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade was established in May 1952. In the early days of the birth of the People's Republic of China, it was almost the only window to the world that China had in the face of the economic blockade imposed by the West. In the era of reform and opening up, it is one of the important sectors in China's high-level opening up.
From its first participation in the Mumbai International Industry Fair in India in 1951 to the first China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo (hereinafter referred to as the Chain Expo) in 2023, in the past 72 years, the CCPIT has always been China's largest and most influential state-level trade and investment industry promotion institution, and has assumed an important mission of non-governmental economic and trade diplomacy around the four main business lines of trade and investment promotion, participation in global economic governance, commercial legal services, and application-oriented think tank construction.
No. 89 Xijiaomin Lane - the original site of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, it was a two-story building used by a bank before the liberation. With the significant improvement of business development and international influence, in 1980, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade moved to its current location - No. 1 Fuxingmenwai Street.
Many central government organs have changed their names and adjusted in the process of development, but the name of the CCPIT is rare and has never been changed. This is an accident of history, and it is also an inevitability.
Trade promotion icebreaker
Soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in the face of the blockade imposed by the West, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade came into being, which enabled China to have a channel for non-governmental exchanges with the world, especially with countries that have not established diplomatic relations, and laid a certain foundation for the subsequent exchanges between Chinese and foreign governments.
"If there are more wagons full of goods going between the two sides, then whether it is the iron curtain or the 'bamboo curtain', it will not be so terrible." Years later, Jack · Perry remembered the famous words of Lord Boede · Orr, president of the United Kingdom Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
In June 1953, a delegation of the United Kingdom business community visited China and signed a trade agreement. Lu Xuzhang, manager of China Import and Export Corporation, signed a commercial agreement with Roland · Berger, Secretary General of the United Kingdom Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
In the summer of 1953, at the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the United Kingdom Council for the Promotion of International Trade organized a delegation of business circles to visit China and sign a trade agreement, and the young Jack · Perry and 15 other United Kingdom entrepreneurs visited China in the context of the "embargo", and were hailed as "icebreakers", digging the "ice" that hindered trade with China for the United Kingdom and even the entire Western trading community.
Before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) has always been an important window for maintaining smooth trade between the two countries. In September 1975, at the invitation of the US-China Business Council, a delegation from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade visited the United States for the first time, which was the first semi-official trade delegation sent by China after the signing of the Shanghai Joint Communiqué between China and the United States in 1972. Then-United States President Ford met with the delegation at the White House, accompanied by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. This visit laid a good foundation for the development of non-governmental trade exchanges between China and the United States in the following decades.
In September 1975, the CCPIT delegation visited the United States for the first time, and United States President Gerald Ford met with the CCPIT delegation led by Li Chuan (2nd from right), deputy director of CCPIT.
History is strikingly similar. After nearly 50 years, under the turbulent international situation, with the victory of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the invitation of the United States Chamber of Commerce and the US-China Business Council, Ren Hongbin, President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, led a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs to visit the United States, and had extensive exchanges with United States political and business circles, and jointly issued a voice that exchanges should not be confrontational, cooperation and not decoupling.
In July 2024, Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, led a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs to visit United States.
Moisturizing things silently. As China enters a new era of high-level opening up, on the road to prosperity of the Belt and Road Initiative, on the grand occasion of head-of-state diplomacy and home diplomacy, on the report card that China has maintained its status as the largest country in trade in goods for seven consecutive years, in the rolling upsurge of foreign-funded enterprises investing in China and taking root in China, and in the center of the world stage of China's participation in global economic governance, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade is everywhere.
Exhibition leader
On the broad historical stage of trade and investment promotion in the past 72 years, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has a "trump card" - exhibition.
From the first time to receive foreign exhibitions in China, the first time to hold economic and trade exhibitions overseas, to the first export commodity exhibition held in China - that is, the later "Canton Fair", the first time to hold the World Expo and the World Horticultural Expo in China, and then to the first time to hold a chain expo in China in 2023, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has used the platform of the exhibition to let more overseas enterprises see the "China opportunity", catch the express train of China's development, and let Chinese enterprises better understand the world and bravely go to the world stage.
In November 1956, the China Export Commodities Exhibition sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade opened in the Sino-Soviet Friendship Building in Guangzhou.
In the world of exhibitions, the most striking thing was undoubtedly the World Expo. In 1982, on behalf of the Chinese government, CCPIT organized the Chinese National Pavilion to participate in the World Expo for the first time - the World Expo in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Since then, CCPIT has organized 16 overseas participation in World Expos for the China Pavilion.
1982, World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.
From May 1 to October 31, 2010, China successfully hosted the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, which was the first comprehensive world expo held in China and the largest and longest-lasting international event since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In addition, under the leadership of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, China has also successfully hosted the 1999 Kunming World Horticultural Expo and the 2019 Beijing World Horticultural Expo.
From May 1 to October 31, 2010, China successfully hosted the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
2023 is undoubtedly a year of "harvest". The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade organized "two exhibitions and four conferences", among which it is particularly worth mentioning the first Chain Expo. As the world's first national-level exhibition with the theme of supply chain, a total of 515 Chinese and foreign enterprises and institutions were invited to participate in the Expo. According to incomplete statistics, more than 200 cooperation agreements and intent agreements have been signed, involving an amount of more than 150 billion yuan.
It is worth mentioning that United States companies accounted for 20% of the total number of overseas exhibitors. In the context of the United States political circles clamoring for "decoupling and breaking the chain", the United States business community has obviously issued a different voice.
Exterior view of the exhibition hall of the first China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo.
It can be said that from the Canton Fair to the Chain Expo, the exhibition is no longer to display a single product, but to display the chain ecology. The Chain Expo is not only a symbol of the iteration of the exhibition form, but also a manifestation of high-level openness.
Commercial Law Service Provider
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, one of the difficult problems encountered was how to solve the contract disputes that often occurred in foreign trade.
In 1956, the Foreign Trade Arbitration Commission of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade was formally established. By 2023, CIETAC will accept 5,237 new cases, with a disputed amount of RMB 151.023 billion, breaking the RMB 100 billion mark for six consecutive years.
Established in 1959, the Maritime Arbitration Commission of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) is the only national and international arbitration institution in China that specializes in resolving maritime, transportation and logistics disputes and covers other commercial disputes. In 2023, CMAC accepted 1,124 cases, with an increase of 259.1% in dispute.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to protect China's brand trademarks from being preemptively registered by other foreign enterprises, and also to protect foreign trademarks in China, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade was the first to engage in trademark agency work, the first to translate "Intellectual Property" as "intellectual property", and the first to put forward the opinion of establishing a patent system.
Today, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) has been known as the "vanguard" and "national team" of China's intellectual property agency industry, and is one of the largest comprehensive intellectual property firms in China, with a year-on-year increase of 19.11% in the number of patent applications filed abroad and a 25.2% year-on-year increase in the number of trademark applications filed by Chinese enterprises last year.
On September 22, 2023, the Global Conference on the Rule of Law in Business was held in Beijing.
In addition, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has also actively sent representatives to attend various relevant international conferences and recommended experts to serve as representatives of the business community and members of international organizations. Recently, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee has been re-elected. On the recommendation of the Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the China National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce, a subsidiary of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, 30 Chinese experts were successfully elected as the new members of the committee to participate in the decision-making of the institution.
Think tank builder
In order to serve the needs of the country's foreign trade and economic cooperation strategy, in January 2016, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Research Institute was inaugurated. The new think tank has well-known domestic experts who study both domestic and foreign trade, and also has a high-level scientific research team with international trade, foreign investment, e-commerce, and market circulation as the main directions.
Over the years, CCPIT has also actively expanded its information service system. In 2023, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade will complete and release the Global Supply Chain Promotion Report with high quality. The popularity of the business environment survey reports of the European Union, ASEAN, Japan, Korea, United Kingdom, Australia and other countries (regions) continues to expand, and the attention of the global economic and trade friction index and the monthly observation report of the global intellectual property protection index continues to increase.
On June 28, 2024, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade held a regular press conference in June, at which spokesperson Zhao Ping introduced the relevant situation and answered questions from the media.
In an interview with reporters, the relevant person in charge of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade said that in the future, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade will make every effort to prepare for the second Chain Expo, do a good job in participating in the Osaka World Expo, and do a good job in major economic and trade activities attended by Chinese and foreign leaders. It will also carry out "thousands of groups going to sea" for the national trade promotion system of important economic and trade partner organizations, make good use of 393 multilateral and bilateral industrial and commercial cooperation mechanisms, and organize Chinese and foreign enterprises to connect and negotiate. Strengthen regular communication and exchanges with foreign business associations and multinational companies in China, collect and promote the resolution of reasonable demands of foreign-funded enterprises in a timely manner, and promote the implementation of more foreign-funded projects.
In addition, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade will also strengthen foreign-related rule of law work, improve the commercial legal service system, and further play a leading role in the business community under multilateral mechanisms such as the G20, APEC, and BRICS, put forward more Chinese initiatives and plans, and objectively, justly, and rationally voice the voice of China's business community.
The traffic on Chang'an Avenue is like a fish, like the torrent of history rushing forward.
Based in China and facing the world. The 70-year history of CCPIT is an important manifestation of China's continuous expansion of opening up to the outside world, and an important testimony of enterprises from all over the world sharing development opportunities and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.
Source: China Council for the Promotion of International Trade