China has come out with 22 measures to further expand the high-level
opening-up and attract more resources, including technologies and
talents from the global market, to reinforce its strength in attracting
foreign direct investment, said a circular unveiled by the Ministry of
Commerce on Monday. The government will implement the pre-establishment national
treatment plus negative list management system regarding market access
and the 2020 version of the Catalog of Industries for Encouraging
Foreign Investment to promote the integration of attracting foreign
capital, talents and technologies, said the document. The 22 measures have been put forward in five areas, including
improving government services and building a better legal environment
for overseas investors to make plans for stabilizing foreign investment
this year. In addition to promoting the integration of international and
domestic industrial chains, the country will establish a cluster of
pilot areas for trade-in services, support the innovation and industrial
upgrading of national economic development zones and improve the growth
level of cross-border economic cooperation zones to actively promote
opening-up policies at the regional level. The ministry is currently compiling the development plan for
utilizing foreign investment during China's 14th Five-Year Plan period
(2021-25). China continued to remain an attractive destination for overseas
investment in January, with the actual use FDI in the Chinese mainland
expanding 4.6 percent on a yearly basis to 91.61 billion yuan ($14.17
billion), according to latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce. Zang Tiewei, a spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of
the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said the
Foreign Investment Law has created a more market-oriented, legalized,
and international investment environment for foreign investors, and
guaranteed FDI growth in China last year. As part of the law, foreign-invested enterprises will be granted
access to government procurement markets through fair competition. Last year, the top legislature also revised and made a few more laws,
such as on patents, copyright and Hainan Free Trade Port, providing a
better legal environment for foreign investors and enterprises, he said. Rajat Agarwal, president of China operations at Henkel, the German
industrial and consumer goods manufacturer, said that during the last
three decades of its existence in China, the company has seen how the
deep market reforms have strengthened economic development and how the
latest policies, including the recently announced high-standard market
system, are injecting new growth momentum. "We are looking forward to the deepening of the dual-circulation
development pattern, in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce
each other with the domestic market being the mainstay, thereby
reinforcing the strong business environment for foreign enterprises in
China and opening a new chapter of shared opportunities," he said. As China and its partners signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership agreement and the country completed the Comprehensive
Agreement on Investment with the European Union in principle in late
2020, and China plans to join the Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, these free trade deals will
attract more foreign capital to China in the long run, said Wei
Xiaoquan, a researcher specializing in regional economic development at
the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. With the Agreement on Geographical Indications between China and the
EU coming into effect on Monday, the Ministry of Commerce said the deal
is China's first comprehensive and high-level bilateral treaty on
geographical indications. Through the deal, China and the EU mutually recognized geographical
indications on a large scale for the first time, covering more than 500
products. The two parties also agreed that protected geographical
indications can use the other party's official signs. It is conducive to
the development of the market for related products, the ministry said
in another statement on Monday.
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