Focus on the Central Economic Work Conference: China will deepen the reform of the system and mechanism for promoting foreign investment

Beijing, December 11th (Xinhua) -- The Central Economic Work Conference held from December 10th to 11th deployed key economic tasks for next year, proposing specific measures such as "adhering to opening up to the outside world and promoting win-win cooperation in multiple fields" and "deepening the reform of the system and mechanism for promoting foreign investment".

Since the new era, China's foreign investment management system has undergone historic changes, with the scale of investment attraction ranking among the top in the world and the quality of investment attraction continuously improving. But it should also be noted that the current economic globalization is facing headwinds, unilateralism and protectionism are intensifying, and global cross-border investment is under pressure to move forward. The conference proposed a series of measures, including "orderly expansion of independent opening up in the service sector", "promoting the integration of trade and investment, and the development of domestic and foreign trade integration", and "promoting the signing of more regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements", which sent a clear signal that China is determined to expand its opening up.

Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce, said earlier that foreign-funded enterprises are important participants in Chinese path to modernization, China's reform and opening up, innovation and creation, and China's connectivity to the world and integration into economic globalization. In the new era and new journey, increasing efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment has significant and far-reaching significance. It is an inevitable choice to promote high-quality economic development, an inherent requirement to expand high-level opening up to the outside world, and an important driving force to lead the correct direction of economic globalization.

Deepening the reform of the system and mechanism for promoting foreign investment is an important focus for steadily expanding institutional opening up, "said Wang Xuekun, President of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce. Deepening the reform of the system and mechanism for promoting foreign investment is conducive to leveraging China's advantages in a super large market to attract global resource factors, enhancing the linkage effect between domestic and international markets and resources, and continuously enhancing China's economic innovation and competitiveness.

We will continue to relax market access for foreign investment, clear the restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector, expand the pilot opening up in telecommunications, medical care, education and other fields, promote the orderly opening up of the Internet, culture and other fields, orderly expand the opening up of capital markets, and encourage foreign investors to expand reinvestment... In the face of the "headwind" and "wave of return" of the international economic environment, China firmly promotes trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and creates a market-oriented, legal, and international first-class business environment.

It is understood that relevant departments will expand the scope of foreign investment opening, focus on solving the specific problem of "opening the door but not opening the small door" in market access, and enable foreign-funded enterprises to "both enter and operate" in the already opened areas; Establish and improve the linkage mechanism for building the "Invest in China" brand, synchronously create sub brands of "Choose Economic Development" and "Hand in Hand Service Development", and continuously improve the level of foreign investment promotion; Promote the construction of open platforms, implement the strategy of upgrading free trade pilot zones, and increase pressure testing in the field of foreign investment access; Intensify policy support in the field of foreign investment and continuously improve the regulatory and policy system for utilizing foreign investment.