Logistics Costs Reduced
According to the Ministry of Transport, China reduced logistics costs by more than 88 billion yuan ($13.4 billion) in 2017.
The reductions were achieved through such measures as the removal of certain tolls on the roads of provincial-level regions, as well as streamlined traffic services, the ministry said.
Li Xiaopeng, Minister of Transport, said that China will continue to drive supply-side structural reform in the transport industry, and further lower logistics costs in 2018.
The country will seek to expand pilot schemes for highway toll collection, while streamlining charges in ports, Li said.
Statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) showed that the cost of logistics in China constituted around 14.9 percent of GDP in 2016, down by 1.1 percentage points on the previous year.
Although this ratio had dropped for four consecutive years by 2016, it is still markedly higher than other developing economies.
Authorities stepped up reform efforts in the transport sector in 2017 to reduce the logistics burden of companies. Rail freight charges have been either canceled or lowered, while additional means of financing have been made available to companies in the logistics sector. leading cyber power by 2035, a senior official said on December 25, 2017.
“China will endeavor to build itself into a strong cyber power by 2035, ranking among the world’s elite group in cyberspace,” said Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, at a work conference.
In order to reach this target, China will launch a series of strategic projects, seek breakthroughs in key technologies and accelerate the upgrading of the Internet, he said.
Deeper integration between the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and manufacturing will be encouraged, and guidelines for stimulating the digital economy will be introduced, according to Miao.
He also promised to strengthen regulation in order to better protect private information and online data.
A booming digital economy is reshaping China’s economic landscape as the spread of technology such as big data and AI revives traditional industries.
As of June 2017, there were 3.89 billion Internet users around the world, of which 751 million were in China. This huge number of Web users has created room for risk-takers in e-commerce, mobile payments and other emerging areas to take their chances.