China to step up efforts to foster shared manufacturing

China issued a guideline on Tuesday to speed up the cultivation of shared manufacturing, amid efforts in promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing sector. The move, an important measure to optimize resource allocation and improve output efficiency, also meets the requirement of fostering and expanding new growth drivers, said the guideline released by the Ministry of Information and Technology.

The guideline, stressing coordinated development, suggests capability sharing in the areas of manufacturing, innovation and service.

By 2022, some 20 shared manufacturing demonstration platforms with strong innovation capability and great industry influence will be formed, said the guideline. China will provide support for 50 shared manufacturing demonstration projects with prospects and strong driving force by 2020, the guideline said, in a bid to further deepen the application of shared manufacturing in industrial clusters.

By 2025, shared manufacturing will enter a new stage with significant improvement in the level of resource digitization, and will become a key driver for the sector's high-quality growth, the guideline said. Natural gas imports via North China's Tianjin port soared 91.2 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters to 7.12 million tons, according to Tianjin Customs Tuesday.

The imports were all liquefied natural gas, and the total value grew 88.8 percent to 23.46 billion yuan ($3.3 billion), making Tianjin port China's largest port for liquefied natural gas imports.

Natural gas imported from Australia rose 110 percent to 4.84 million tons in the first three quarters, accounting for 67.9 percent of the total. As an efficient and green energy source, the imported liquefied natural gas helps ensure the supply during the winter heating season in North China.

Meanwhile, in the first three quarters of this year, the total value of imports and exports of foreign trade in the Tibet autonomous region was 3.06 billion yuan ($434 million), of which the total value of exports was 2.53 billion and the total value of imports was 531 million with a trade surplus of 1.99 billion yuan, China News Service reported. According to the Lhasa customs office, in the first three quarters frontier petty trade played a leading role, with value hitting more than 2.02 billion yuan - an increase of 31.8pc.

In the same period, the region had trade relations with 56 countries and regions, with Nepal as the largest trading partner and export market. Among the region's seven cities and prefectures, capital city

Lhasa topped all others by posting a foreign trade value of 2.53 billion yuan, accounting for 82.8 percent of the region's total foreign trade value.

It is noteworthy that the region's Nyingch city has filled a gap in foreign trade this year, and the city's medical enterprises have exported medicinal and pharmaceutical substances worth more than 670,000 yuan to the United States. Moreover, China is prepared for the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) that will run from Nov 5 to 10 in Shanghai, Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan said.

Covering a total area of 30,000 square meters, the country exhibition of the expo will host 64 countries (including China) and three international organizations with unique designed pavilions to showcase their developments and achievements, business environment and characteristic industries, Wang said at a press conference.

Fifteen guest countries of honors of the expo include Cambodia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Peru, Russia, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Zambia.