All set to launch pilot reform project in six cities

China is ready to roll out its pilot reform project for improving the business climate in six cities in an effort to further facilitate business operation, tap into market strength, and build a market-oriented, international business environment governed by a sound legal framework, officials said.

In a meeting with the media on Friday, Lu Xiangdong, an official from the General Office of the State Council, China's Cabinet, said that the State Council has made clear in a recent guideline that pilot reform steps to improve business environment will be rolled out in six cities, including Beijing; Shanghai; Chongqing; Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province; and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

According to Lu, more than 100 reform measures regarding 10 aspects will be put in place by catering to demands from market entities, aligning with international standards and removing institutional hurdles hampering investment and business vitality.

Key reforms will be undertaken to build a more efficient mechanism for businesses to gain market access and to exit, further facilitating cross-border trade, and consolidating the whole-process mechanism for compliance oversight. Business-related services will be optimized, Lu said.

The six cities have been selected for this pilot project because of certain advantages, such as having a relatively complete industrial system and larger scale of market entities. The reforms that are being brought in will directly cater to the needs of business and will help the service sector grow, Lu said. "For this round of reform, it is important that experiences gained from the pilot cities are replicable for nationwide implementation," he said.

The six pilot cities are already fostering innovative policies to put new reforms in place.

The news briefing in Beijing on Friday was also attended by Vice-Mayor of Shanghai Wu Qing, who said Shanghai has worked hard to further calibrate business-related government services. The city has formulated a service system for medium-sized and small businesses and is using big data to better empower inclusive finance, providing data support for more than 140,000 business entities. Reforms have also been brought into some key areas, such as starting a business, getting electricity easier, paying taxes and better enforcing a contract, Wu said. Also, more reforms are in the pipeline, in areas such as facilitating investment, government credit and legal protection.

"From January to October this year, the city of Shanghai has seen some 447,000 newly registered market entities, up by 16.8 percent year-on-year," Wu said, "Going forward, we will see this round of reform as an opportunity to make the business climate more enabling, so that businesses can rest assured and feel convenient about their operations here."