Officials discuss advantages of RCEP agreement at a conference in Jinan, Shandong province. [Photo/Jinan Daily]

Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, has boosted opening-up and high-quality development under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, officials said during a recently held conference in the city.

The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its five free-trade agreement partners: China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Under the agreement, more than 90 percent of traded goods between member countries will eventually have zero tariffs.

By taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the RCEP, Jinan saw significant growth in foreign trade after the agreement took effect on Jan 1. From January to September this year, Jinan's imports and exports reached 165.6 billion yuan ($23.13 billion), an increase of 22.4 percent from the same period last year.

In the first three quarters of this year, 108,000 RCEP certificates of origin were issued by Qingdao customs, Jinan customs and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shandong Sub-council, placing Shandong province first in China.

The conference also discussed suggestions for Jinan's enterprises to further make use of the RCEP opportunities to achieve high-quality development.

Enterprises should choose the certificates of origin that are most beneficial to them according to the rules of origin and verify that their export products are included in the tax reduction list.

Representatives from 26 international business associations from 12 RCEP member countries and officials from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jinan Municipal Committee attended the conference. It is the first time for Jinan to host such a high-level economic, trade and cultural consultation conference with RCEP member countries.