Beijing sets sights on further opening

Beijing will open its financial sector wider to the world in three years, as the city undertakes a major push to deepen reform and opening-up in the service industry, a vice-mayor said on Wednesday.Yin Yong, vice-mayor of Beijing, said the financial sector is on the top of the list of the capital city's opening-up undertakings. One of the major tasks is to strengthen the city's role as a financial management center, which can facilitate China's financial reform and opening-up, as well as risk prevention, he said.He made the remarks at a news conference, introducing in detail a three-year action plan for Beijing to continue opening up its service sector. The plan gained approval from the State Council in January.Among the 177 measures listed in the plan, those concerning the financial sector account for more than 25 percent, Yin said.This year, Beijing plans to "launch a series of heavyweight financial institutions, foster and develop financial technology and green finance, promote the sector's opening-up and innovation, and improve the supervision system," Yin said.For the insurance, asset management and securities industries, Beijing will raise the foreign ownership cap to 51 percent this year, Yin said. "The city will remove the limit completely in two years."The plan said Beijing should step up efforts to streamline administration, delegate power to lower levels and improve regulation and services, seek to open the service sector wider, and create a sound business environment.Yin said Beijing will further optimize the business environment in the capital city for foreign investors, foreign companies and foreign talents. For instance, the city will explore the mode for negative list management in all fields, he said. A negative list defines areas in which foreign enterprises are not allowed to invest.Beijing started to commit itself to service sector opening-up in 2015, when the State Council approved the pilot programs. Li Chenggang, assistant minister of commerce, said the pilot programs have improved the development of modern services in Beijing and played a leading role in the country.Li said the Ministry of Commerce will join the city to speed up the implementation of the measures and make breakthroughs in service sector development, in order to offer more useful experiences for advancing a new round of high-level opening-up nationwide and building an open economy.For years, China has been dedicated to shifting its economic growth model toward one driven by consumption, services and innovation. Data showed the service sector has been contributing more to the country's economic growth.The sector's value-added output accounted for 52.2 percent of GDP in 2018, 0.3 percentage point higher than the previous year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.Source: China Daily

Hunan High-Tech Industry Added Value Surpasses 800 Billion CNY

In 2018, Hunan provincial high-tech industry realized an added value of over 846 billion CNY, a year-on-year increase of 14.0% and accounting for 23.2% of the total GDP. The statistics was announced by the Hunan Provincial Bureau of Statistics on March 25, 2019. Each of four major sectors – new materials, high-tech transformation of traditional industries, electronic information, and biology and new medicine – exceeded 100 billion CNY in added value.New materials industry and high-tech transformation of traditional industries, two major pillars of Hunan’s high-tech industry, witnessed prominent progress. Over the past five years, their total added value, sales revenue, and profits and taxes accounted for about 50% of the total of provincial high-tech industries. In 2018, the provincial high-tech industry saw a notable momentum of upgrades and optimization. The added value of aerospace, resources and environment, and biology and new medicine industries grew by 24%, 18.4%, and 14.7%, respectively. The growth rates were much higher than the average.The strength of key enterprises has been enhanced as the industry scale expanded. Last year, there were 4,104 recognized high-tech enterprises included in the Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Department annual statistics, an increase of 1,276. They realized an added value of more than 50 billion CNY, an increase of 14.1%. There were 3,858 enterprises with an output value of over 100 million CNY, an increase of 133 over 2017. The total value added, sales income, and profits and taxes accounted for 93.4%, 92.7%, and 93.5% of the provincial total, respectively. They played important supporting roles to the high-tech industry development.Hunan will continue to develop more high-tech enterprises in the future. By the end of 2018, Hunan has 49 national-level enterprise technological centers. Further policy optimization is ongoing for high-tech enterprise development.

Greater Bay Area will be fostered with regional integration

China unveiled the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to develop the region into “a role model of high-quality development.”The plan was released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.The plan, an important outline document guiding the current and future cooperation and development of the Greater Bay Area, covers the period from now to 2022 in the immediate term and extends to 2035 in the long term.Industrial systemChina aims to build a globally competitive modern industrial system for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to the development plan.Efforts will be made to expedite the development of the advanced manufacturing industry, nurture and strengthen strategic emerging industries, expedite the development of modern service industries, and vigorously develop the marine economy, according to the plan.The plan says measures should be taken to deepen supply-side structural reform, nurture new industries as well as new business types and models, support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and expedite the development of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries.It also stresses the need to raise industries’ development levels to advanced international standards, promote the complementarity, coordination and interconnected development of industries, and nurture a number of world-class industry clusters.The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will foster closer collaboration and integration within the region, an industry official said."It should be a commercial advantage for companies, and this is how business works," said Gutierrez, a former secretary of commerce of the United States. "The technology is going to be made by companies, whether public or private, but not governments."

Liaoning aims to improve the R&D and manufacturing capabilities of High-end Equipment in 8 major fields

A few days ago, the Liaoning Provincial Government issued a work plan, clearly targeting the eight major areas, and accelerating the construction of an Advanced Equipment Manufacturing base with the international competitiveness.The Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Base is an important property for the development of high-end industries in Liaoning. Liaoning Province will focus on making excellent and strong aviation equipment, offshore equipment and high-tech ships, energy-saving vehicles and new energy vehicles, and major complete sets of equipment, developing and expanding high-end CNC machine tools, robots and intelligent equipment, advanced rail transit equipment, and integrated circuit equipment. In 8 major areas, Liaoning will implement key projects and cultivate key projects, and strive to achieve significant improvements in equipment manufacturing capabilities.The key projects implemented in these eight areas have clearly defined the timetable, task book and road map for industrial development. The plan proposed deepen institutional reform, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and enhance the level of external cooperation. Accelerate the introduction of talents and other aspects, and provide convenience and guarantee for the construction of an advanced equipment manufacturing base with international competitiveness.The plan also proposes that by 2020, Liaoning Province's equipment manufacturing industry's main business income will strive to exceed 800 billion yuan, digital R&D and design tools penetration rate will reach 75%, break through 50 key core technologies, and develop 30 major influential national targets，the creation of more than five national-level research and development platforms, and format the high-end equipment in Shenyang, Dalian as the center, the "specialized and special" equipment in other regions as the supporting advanced equipment manufacturing industry development pattern.

Hainan steps on the innovation pedal

Hainan, China's largest free trade zone with a higher-level of opening-up policies, has made considerable progress in its efforts to create a favorable environment for innovation in the island province, according to provincial officials.The FTZ, the 12th such in the country, said an improved, efficient business environment, better intellectual property protection and diversity in financial products were among its significant achievements."Systemic innovation has been the core of Hainan's efforts ... we have achieved considerable progress," said Sun Dahai, deputy secretary-general of the Communist Party of China Hainan Provincial Committee.To vitalize the market, the province has simplified the business registration process on its electronic platform and shortened verification time to just three days. Manual verification is only required for special cases, said Sun.According to government data, the FTZ sees roughly 382 new applications every day for business approvals."It is very easy and fast for a company to open a bank account, register and get all necessary licenses and approvals in Hainan. That, in itself, is a big change in the overall business environment," said Zheng Xiaobo, general manager of Hainan ITG Co Ltd, a joint venture between Hainan Provincial Development Holdings Corp Ltd and Xiamen ITG Group Corp Ltd."Of course I miss my previous job and life, but I love coming to Hainan and contributing to the growth of the FTZ," he said.Innovation in financing for intellectual property was another major achievement in Hainan after the island province issued the country's first IP asset securities late last year with plans to raise 470 million yuan ($69.5 million) of funds.At present, most of the patents owned by small and medium-sized enterprises in Hainan were not put into efficient use, and companies were facing difficulties such as shortage of funds, lack of adequate financing channels and insufficient transformation of intangible assets into profits.Through the securitization of intellectual property assets, the problem was efficiently solved, according to the local government. It is considered a brand-new model for the application of intellectual property rights and a new financing tool for small and medium-sized enterprises.Wei Pengju, director of the institute of cultural economics at the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics, said: "We hope the policy moves and reforms that Hainan is undertaking will accelerate the progress in securitization of intellectual property assets."Hainan has also come out with various insurance products to ensure a good rubber harvest, a core agricultural product in the local economy. According to the government, if the price for rubber falls to below 12 yuan per kilogram, it would become unviable for farmers."Natural rubber is an important agricultural product and a strategic product. It is also an important avenue for a large number of farmers in Hainan to increase their income and improve their lives," said government officials.At present, Hainan produces around 360,000 metric tons of natural rubber every year, accounting for 44.12 percent of the country's total production, involving more than 700,000 farmers and providing jobs to over 2 million people in the industrial chain.In some parts of Hainan, rubber sales account for 60 percent to 70 percent of the total income. However, the international prices of rubber have remained depressed in recent years, posing threats to Hainan's economy and the province's pillar industry.Hainan has come out with two different insurance modes for private buyers and State-owned buyers so that farmers will get an assured payment of at least 12 yuan per kilogram along with insurance guarantee.Hainan set up the country's first trading center for international tropical agricultural production in January.The trading center will continuously improve the trading mechanism in Hainan, strengthen the construction of a digital platform, and optimize the service mode, said Yang Sitao, chairman of Hainan State Farms Investment Holdings Group. "It will help introduce more tropical agricultural products from Hainan and overseas countries onto the platform for trading."Source: China Daily

Shanghai will implement an action plan to optimize the Business Environment

This year, Shanghai will officially launch a plan to further optimize the business environment, and clarify further reform goals and reform tasks.1.In terms of starting a business, this year Shanghai plans to reduce the step number from 4 to 3, and the processing time will be reduced from 9 days to 3-5 days, and the cost also will be reduced.2.In terms of construction permits, this year Shanghai plans to reduce the step number from 19 to 14 and the processing time will be reduced from 169.5 days to 97 days. The quality control index and cost will maintain the existing results and strive to improve.3.In terms of access to electricity, this year Shanghai plans to reduce the step number from 3 to 2, and the average time for electricity accessing is reduced to no more than 20 days.4.In terms of property registration, this year Shanghai plans to reduce the step number from 4 to 2, the processing time will be reduced from 9 days to 5 days, and the quality index to increase from 23.5 to 24.5.5.In terms of cross-border trade, this year Shanghai plans to keep the border compliance time for imports within 48 hours, and the border compliance fee will be reduced from 335 US dollars to 316 US dollars; the document compliance time will be reduced from 24 hours to 8-10 hours, the compliance fee was reduced from $120 to $70. On the export side, border compliance time will be reduced from 23 hours to 16-20 hours, border compliance costs will be reduced from $305 to $293; document compliance time will be reduced from 8 hours to 6-8 hours, and document compliance costs will be kept it within $70.6.In terms of taxation, this year Shanghai plans to reduce the total tax rate and social contribution to around 65%, and reduce the tax time to 130 hours, keeping other indicators performing and seeking to improve.Shanghai will continue to promote a high level of openness, and on the basis of deepening the implementation of the "100 open expansions", it will launch a number of openning measures.