BEIJING (China Daily/ANN): China will encourage its pilot free trade zones (FTZs) and comprehensive bonded areas to build global supply warehouses and transportation hubs during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), in order to spur new forms and models of foreign trade, a government official said on Tuesday (July 27).
With China and its partners pushing for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement to become effective next year and preparing to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is vital for the country to establish such facilities in these zones, as well as the Hainan Free Trade Port, said Li Kuiwen, director-general of the General Administration of Customs statistics and analysis department.
HONG KONG (China Daily/ANN): The value of Hong Kong s total goods exports increased to HK$406.6 billion in June, up 33 per cent on the same month last year, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said Monday (July 26).
In a statement, the government said data from the Census and Statistics Department showed that the value of imports of goods also increased 31.9 per cent to HK$447.1 billion during the same period.
The HKSAR recorded a trade deficit of HK$40.5 billion, or 9 per cent of the value of imports of goods, the government said.
For the first half of 2021, the value of total exports of goods increased by 30.0 per cent over the same period in 2020, it added.
Vietnam s president Nguyen Xuan Phuc. - Xinhua
BEIJING (China Daily/ANN): President Xi Jinping pledged on Monday (July 26) to work with Vietnam s leaders to build the two countries into a community with a shared future after Nguyen Xuan Phuc was reelected as the South-East Asian country s president and Pham Minh Chinh as its prime minister.
In his message congratulating Phuc on his reelection, Xi said that as socialist neighbours connected by mountains and rivers, China and Vietnam enjoy a profound traditional friendship and broad common interests.
Faced with unprecedented changes and a pandemic unseen in a century, the two countries have held fast to their shared ideals and convictions and have stayed true to their original aspiration for unity and friendship, Xi said.
China unveils blueprint for central region s growth thestar.com.my - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestar.com.my Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Firefighters pump rainwater out of a road in Zhengzhou, capital of central China s Henan province, July 21, 2021. - Xinhua
BEIJING (China Daily/ANN): People in the flood-ravaged province of Henan have suffered great inconvenience, economic losses and even tragedy in recent days, but they have been able to display courage and help others in a time of peril.
Video clips shot on smartphones in multiple cities in Henan show people rushing into flooded streets to rescue others－often strangers trapped or drowning in floodwater－placing their own lives at risk.
In one video, people form a human chain and use a rope to pull a drowning woman to safety. In another, dozens of pedestrians link their arms together to cautiously make their way across a flooded road while water laps at their chests.