Post is a leading industry in driving the transformation of distribution means and promoting consumption upgrades in the modern world. Postal system is a national strategic infrastructure and social organization system. Therefore, China Post Group has inherent advantages in promoting policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond. However, in advancing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), what arrangements has China Post made? What has it achieved? And how does it plan for the future? Liu Aili, Chairman of China Post Group, answered these questions in an exclusive interview during the Thematic Forum on Infrastructure Connectivity and the High-level Meeting of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

The synergy of business sectors in China Post Group is completely in line with the core tasks of the BRI

The BRI is an important plan made by the CPC Central Committee in response to the profound changes in the global situation after taking into account the overall domestic and international affairs. Based on the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, The BRI has not only promoted the economic and trade relations and cooperation among over 60 “Band and Road” (B&R) countries and regions, but also stimulated them into in-depth exchanges and cooperation.

From 2013 to 2018, import and export commodity trade between China and other B&R countries surpassed US$6 trillion, accounting for 27.4 percent of China’s total commodity trade and growing faster than the country’s overall foreign trade. In 2018 the value of trade in goods between China and other B&R countries reached US$1.3 trillion, growing by 16.4 percent year on year.

All these have brought tremendous opportunities to the business development of China Post. Ranking the 113^th in the Fortune Global 500 in 2018 and the second among the postal enterprises across the world, China Post has become a modern conglomerate providing basic postal services, financial services (including banking, insurance and securities), express and logistics services (including standard express, e-commerce parcels, international services and contract logistics) as well as e-commerce services, and operating businesses in financial, logistics and trading platform sectors. It persists in fostering new strengths for competition through open cooperation and synergetic development, which is totally compatible with the core tasks of the BRI.

“China Post possesses many excellent international cooperation frameworks and platforms, such as the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and other regional postal cooperation organizations, and maintains connectivity with countries and regions across the world. Therefore, it has inherent strengths in advancing international cooperation, postal and logistics infrastructure construction, cultural exchanges among the B&R countries,” Liu Aili said. In terms of policy coordination, China Post works in multilateral cooperation frameworks such as UPU, Kahala Posts Group (KPG) and Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU). Working within “the single postal territory of UPU”, the posts worldwide comply with uniform postal regulations and standards and use same UPU forms. In terms of infrastructure connectivity, the posts are interconnected across the world and have shared infrastructure and resources. To facilitate unimpeded trade, the posts worldwide are working together to achieve win-win cooperation in cross-border e-commerce. In people-to-people bond, China Post maintains very good partnerships with other posts under the multilateral frameworks of UPU and other organizations, and has become an important channel for spreading Chinese culture on the international stage.

Owing to these inherent strengths, China Post has become the main channel for cross-border e-commerce logistics in China. “The participating countries of the BRI, especially with Europe and Asia-Pacific region at both ends, constitute a huge cross-border e-commerce market. Europe is China’s largest export market for cross-border e-commerce, while the Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing one, which together account for 60% of China’s export cross-border e-commerce market,” said Liu Aili.

Implementing the requirements for connectivity of BRI facilitates the full blooming of its international market

Since the BRI was put forward, China Post has been playing a proactive role in fulfilling the connectivity requirements, actively serving and integrating itself into the national overall development. It has created platforms and established mechanisms to accelerate the expansion of its international market, thereby making remarkable achievements.

According to Liu Aili, in pushing forward policy coordination, China Post has so far established direct postal service relations with more than 200 countries and regions worldwide and bilateral partnership mechanisms with major B&R countries. It has given impetus to mechanism establishment for international mail transportation by rail by UPU, and led the formulation of the Guidelines for establishing an international postal rail transport service. With the support and guidance of the branches concerned, China Post has taken the initiative to create communication and cooperation platforms: in April 2016, the 2016 China (Chongqing) International Post Forum was held in Chongqing; in July 2016, UPU Asia-Pacific Region Cross-border E-commerce & EMS Market Development Strategy Seminar was held in Kunming; in August 2018, Postal Training Program on Promoting Trade Facilitation in Asia-Pacific Region under the Belt & Road Initiative was held in Nanning. On these platforms, the B&R countries shared their experience in the development of cross-border e-commerce and their railway mail transportation projects, thereby achieving the objective of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits

In strengthening infrastructure connectivity, China Post has actively pushed ahead with railway mail transportation, coordinated with related departments of the B&R countries and improved the solution of mail transportation by China-Europe freight trains. The first international mail center at railway port has been established in Chongqing, which has normalized the mail transportation through Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe and Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe freight trains. A set of standard procedures recognized by railway administrations, Customs and posts have come into being in the aspect of mail transportation through China-Europe freight trains. Meanwhile, impetus has been given to the road-rail intermodal transport between China and Russia, which combines the traditional road transport with rail transport, with the postal route from Manzhouli road port via Zabaikalsk and Chita to Moscow opened. The global deployment of overseas warehouses has been accelerated, with 11 overseas warehouses established in 7 countries and regions by the end of 2018. New airmail routes have been opened, with Zhengzhou- Novosibirsk, Harbin-Ekaterinburg and Hangzhou-Novosibirsk postal cargo flights put into operation.

In facilitating unimpeded trade, China Post proactively adapts itself to the development of cross-border e-commerce, and constantly enriches the categories of its products and services, of which the ePacket coverage has expanded from 4 countries and regions in 2013 to 39 in 2018, the e-Express coverage from 15 countries and regions in 2013 to 106 in 2019, and the e-Courier service has opened 11 routes including the B&R countries and regions.

In assisting in financial integration, PSBC had carried out bilateral credit granting with more than 40 overseas banks by the end of 2018 and established agent banking relations with 930 banks, of which 40 B&R countries and regions and 236 banks had been involved. Each year, over 500,000 individual remittance services are provided to 62 B&R countries, with an annual average of USD1 billion. Sovereign loans have been granted to such B&R countries as Oman and Pakistan to support their key projects. In recent years, PSBC has granted a total of over RMB40 billion (about USD5.86 billion) cross-border financing to countries such as Oman, Serbia, India and Pakistan. PSBC can provide customers with exchange and settlement services of more than 120 currencies, with cross-border settlement service covering more than 2/3 of the B&R countries. At the same time, it has provided financial support for key projects and enterprises in such fields as railway, highway and port in border and coastal provinces for the infrastructure construction at the “Belt and Road” starting point.

In consolidating people-to-people bonds, China Post has actively intensified exchanges with other posts, deepened exchanges and cooperation in business, technology, training and personnel, promoted non-governmental contacts, and enhanced affective interactions.

Continuously contribute to the overall development while focusing on promoting cooperation in two areas

China Post will continuously contribute to the overall interests of the BRI and facilitate its high-quality development. It will thoroughly implement the development requirements for connectivity, focus on promoting cooperation in international business and financial sector, so as to forge its role as the national team and exert its influence as the main force of the industry.

Liu Aili said, “President Xi Jinping has pointed out in his keynote speech, ‘we should focus on priorities and project execution, move forward with results-oriented implementation, just like an architect refining the blueprint, and jointly promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.’ China Post will implement the target of high standard, people-centered and sustainable development, proactively push ahead with the wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in the cooperation and development of the world postal family, continue to deepen business partnership with B&R countries, thus contributing to the meticulous implementation of the BRI.”

China Post will adhere to the multilateral framework and bilateral basis, and focus on domestic operation while supplemented by international cloud warehouse, so as to accelerate the process of internationalization. It will strengthen the innovation of international logistics and express products, expand the non-postal channels of China International Express, and promote the dedicated products for China-Europe freight trains. It will quicken its step in implementing its “going global” strategy, establishing overseas divisions in related B&R countries. Meanwhile, it will accelerate the construction of border mail ports and commercial express mail ports, study and follow up the changes in the mail and express mail regulatory modes of China and other B&R countries, thereby seeking the most suitable customs clearance mode both complying with the regulatory requirements of the Customs as well as the inspection and quarantine agencies and being in favor of business expansion of China Post. It will integrate the sea, land and air transport capacity to gather resources to broaden the channels of mail transportation.

PSBC will continue to facilitate the financial integration of the BRI， continue to focus on infrastructure construction and international industrial cooperation projects so as to bring benefits to the local people of the B&R countries and build a global community of shared future. It will keep optimizing its products and services, exploring diverse financing models for the BRI. It will further improve the efficiency of clearing and settlement services, build a multi-currency cross-border settlement system, and support the use of Renminbi in cross-border trade and investment. It will continue to implement process optimization, increase capital investments, develop and strengthen such basic products as import and export trade financing, cross-border project loans, export credit, offshore financing against domestic guarantee etc.. It will actively explore multi-channel financing models such as offshore bond issuance, cross-border asset transfer, and the B&R Renminbi development fund. It will reinforce cooperation with ADB, AIIB, World Bank and other international financial organizations to seek business opportunities such as green finance and cross-border secured loans, and expand the scale of cross-border project financing and syndicated loans. It will also commit to building agent banks, with 270 agencies to be established in 45 B&R countries and regions by the end of 2019.