By Long Haibo, General Office, Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC)

Report No 120, 2014 (Total 4619)

Summary:

Yunnan province plays a special and important role in China's opening-up layout. The opening-up of border areas in Yunnan province has seen progress in recent years. The region has been promoting international access, expanding open cooperation, accelerating industrial park construction, and improving border trade and service.

Border opening-up faces rare development opportunities in mutual beneficial cooperation between China and other countries. Yunnan province, one of China's border regions, needs to open-up in an active way. Border opening-up, however, is still in its primary stage and facing problems and difficulties. For instance, interconnection construction is slow, the border and cross-border economic cooperation zone encounters many restraints, border trade is subject to many restrictive policies, and customs clearance needs to become more convenient. The country has to build a regular multi-level communication mechanism, launch policies to support border trade and strengthen border administration, increase investment for border regions, and explore pilot trials in border opening-up.