He Baoxiang, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and executive vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), led a team to Southwest China's Yunnan province from April 8 to 11, to survey the deepening of regional economic and trade cooperation under the framework of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). 

Deepening regional economic and trade cooperation under the RCEP framework is one of the key topics of the RCCK Central Committee in its annual work. Joint research activities will be carried out with provincial-level RCCK organizations in Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, with Yunnan being the first stop. 

During the trip, He pointed out that Yunnan has unique geographical advantages, serving as a crucial gateway connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia, and plays a distinctive role in deepening China's exchanges and cooperation with countries in the regions. 

He commended Yunnan for its efforts to accelerate the construction of a hub for regional connectivity and international cooperation. 

He emphasized the need for Yunnan to serve national strategies and deepen reform and innovation while aligning with the RCEP to promote higher-level opening-up. 

He called for benchmarking against RCEP rules and standards, making pioneering efforts in reform and innovation, and improving the business environment based on Yunnan's actual conditions. 

Efforts should be focused on key traditional industries, strengthening research on matters such as logistics cost, industrial supporting facilities and production factors, and the orderly and effective promotion of industrial transformation, he said. 

He also stressed the importance of strengthening overall coordination and refining economic and trade policies to promote high-level opening-up in order to better leverage Yunnan's role in building a new development paradigm for the country.