China to accelerate construction of international consumption centers

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Wednesday released a document formulated by the Ministry of Commerce to accelerate the transformation of certain cities into international consumption centers.

The document states that China will expedite the transformation of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing into such centers. It also aims to create a globally attractive consumption environment, expand domestic demand and promote high-standard opening-up.

China will actively promote the debut economy. For example, it will work to attract global high-quality brands to open flagship stores, set up R&D design centers and establish regional headquarters, thus perfecting the debut economy's ecosystem.

The country will expand its unilateral visa-free travel policy in an orderly manner, improve its consumption environment, and better leverage the role of duty-free stores and the national tax-refund-upon-departure policy.

It also plans to organize various large-scale consumption promotion activities, support the hosting of more high-level international sports events and performance shows, and increase the supply of high-quality goods and services.

Additionally, it will deepen economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchange, according to the document. ■