Beijing’s service industry to open wider

The State Council unveiled a circular on pushing forward a three-year, comprehensive pilot project of expanding opening-up in Beijing’s service industry.

In order to build the capital into a smart city with effective guarantee of state affairs, a big data action plan will be promoted for information pooling and sharing between Beijing municipality and departments in charge of public security, market supervision, customs, commerce and transport, and financial supervision.

According to the circular, efforts should be intensified to build Beijing into a cultural center with international influences.

Foreign-funded performance agencies will be allowed in the city to provide services throughout China.

In addition, overseas Chinese cultural centers will get support to introduce high-quality cultural products in foreign countries, and cultural exchanges with Belt and Road countries will also be encouraged.

Cultural trade will also be boosted, especially in cultural information, creative designs, copyrights of games and animation. A national cultural export base and foreign culture trade base will be developed as well.

The circular said software and hardware environments should be optimized to facilitate international exchanges. Airports’ role as global hubs will be strengthened, and international airlines will be encouraged to open routes to the city.

To enhance brand reputation and international impacts of Beijing’s conference and exhibition industry, the city should bid for annual meetings and exhibitions of international organizations.

Professionals in finance and construction will also be encouraged to work in Beijing.

The circular said Beijing will grow into a world-class technology innovation center. The telecommunication industry will further open up, and more measures will be planned to attract international R&D centers and talent.

A slew of polices will also be made to build a biomedical R&D platform, speed up commercialization of research findings, and to widen financing channels.

A sharing system of risk information in foreign investment and a property rights protection system will be built, in an effort to promote coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster.

Beijing’s sub-center will be a leading region in the comprehensive pilot project, where administrative service reform, culture and tourism, as well as high-end business, will be prioritized.

Financial management in Beijing will be enhanced by improving cross-border RMB businesses, deepening international cooperation in financial innovation, and widening opening-up in the financial market.

The circular said measures should be adopted to build a world-class business environment, with the implementation of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list.

Efforts will also be strengthened to ease cross-border trade, to promote talent development and to foster a fair and transparent legal environment.