On June 21, Losang Jamcan, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, attended the opening ceremony of the 2024 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum, which was jointly organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the Anhui Provincial People's Government in Huangshan city in East China's Anhui province.

Addressing the event, Losang emphasized that actively promoting the implementation of the RCEP agreement is a significant initiative of China's high-level opening-up to the world.

Since the all-round implementation of the RCEP agreement, the Chinese government has taken a series of practical measures to work with all parties to further promote regional economic integration through greater efforts, as well as to comprehensively implement obligations of opening the market, so as to bring new opportunities to the world through China's own development, he said.

He said that Anhui, together with the CPAFFC, has jointly established an open platform for sub-national exchanges and cooperation between China and other RCEP countries, which will continuously deepen mutually beneficial and pragmatic cooperation between the local governments and friendship cities.

He called for efforts to continuously optimize the business environment, vigorously promote the efficient implementation of the RCEP agreement, follow the trend of trade digitalization and informatization, continuously enhance the utilization of the RCEP agreement, and create a more prosperous and dynamic regional market in collaboration with all parties.

It is crucial to continue to explore the enormous development potential brought by the RCEP agreement, closely align the development opportunities of the RCEP with the local development strategies of all partner countries, further enhance cooperation in consumer goods trade, cross-border e-commerce, trade in services, investment and enterprises' utilization of the agreement, and promote wider, deeper and higher-level opening-up and cooperation in the region, he added.

He called for efforts to strengthen communication and engagement, enhance the forum's brand value and standards, and establish more platforms for economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges, in order to build the forum into an open platform that connects the RCEP markets and rules, promotes high-level dialogue and communication between the governments and business communities, and serves the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

He also expressed the hope that participants of the forum will strengthen communication and coordination, enhance exchanges and interactions and deepen practical cooperation, in a bid to jointly promote the high-quality implementation of the RCEP agreement and build a closer Asia-Pacific community with a shared future.