Premier Li highlights role of optimizing business environment

2017-06-19
english.gov.cn/The Beijing News

Premier Li Keqiang urged more efforts be put into optimizing the business environment several times in the past week.

At the teleconference on government function reform on June 13, Premier Li spoke highly of China’s performance in recent years to create favorable business environment. He said that the facilitation of doing business in China has obviously improved and the ease of doing business in China experienced a big jump in global ranking, especially in promoting entrepreneurship.

He added, however, that the country should still see the gaps and realize that China falls behind even many developing countries in this area and emphasized the role of the business environment in stimulating better productivity.

“China will strive to create a more favorable business environment to attract investments,” the Premier said during the Second Global Overseas Chinese Industry and Commerce Convention in Beijing on June 12.

At the State Council’s executive meeting on June 7, where it was decided to establish more demonstration bases for mass innovation and entrepreneurship, the Premier stressed the importance of providing a supportive environment, including a “hard and soft environment” for attracting both foreign investment and talent.

Optimizing the business environment has always been Premier Li’s focused issue.

Take his recent visit to the European Union (EU) as an example. He again mentioned this subject during a meeting with Chinese and European entrepreneurs in Brussels and promised to further expand China’s opening up.

At two executive meetings in April and May, Premier Li said that with the rising global competition, government at all levels should take action to maintain a good market expectation while enhancing market confidence.

To achieve such results, China needs to further deepen administrative reform, which includes delegating power, strengthening regulation and optimizing service, and continuing to provide a supportive environment for businesses, Premier Li said.

While noting the importance of such a task, Premier Li also required related departments to attach great importance to gaining global competitiveness.

“To enhance global competitiveness, China should create a more international, legalized and facilitated business environment and lower the institutional costs,” Premier Li said.

Besides the fierce global competition, the pressing need for the reform also comes from the demands of domestic enterprises to lower burdens.

According to the Premier, many enterprises’ CEOs have said that enterprises have benefited from the policy of reducing tax and lowering fees, while suggesting that the government should further lower institutional costs.

Premier Li urged that government should issue policies that can target enterprises’ needs and focus on the administrative reform.

At the teleconference on government function reform on June 13, Premier Li also said improving the business environment means further streamlining administration, strengthening related supervision and regulations, and continuously optimizing services.

Some regional governments have put forward new measures to upgrade the business environment after studying the World Bank’s indicators on enterprises’ business environment, he said.

Such ideas should be advocated among regional governments. While trying to attract investment, local governments should also learn new methods to create a favorable business environment, the Premier added.