PREMIER Li Keqiang heard work reports on improving China’s business environment to align with advanced international standards at the State Council executive meeting Wednesday. It was decided at the meeting that China will carry out an evaluation of its business climate by measuring it against international standards.

The Chinese Government places high importance on deepening the reform of government functions and enhancing the business environment. Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that the business environment is like the soil nourishing corporate development and reflects market competitiveness. It is hence crucial to foster a world-class business environment that is market-driven, law-based and up to international standards.

The government’s relentless efforts in recent years to streamline administration, enhance compliance oversight and provide better services have brought notable improvement to China’s business climate. The World Bank’s recent report of Doing Business 2019 ranked China number 46, up by 32 spots from 2017.

“With continued reform of government functions, our business environment has visibly improved in recent years, and its global ranking has continuously moved up,” Li said, “As many as 18,000 new market entities are now registered on an average day, up from several thousand a few years back. This would not be possible without an enabling business climate. “

The Wednesday meeting stressed the importance of bettering the business environment for promoting high-quality development. Efforts will be made to better align with advanced international standards, tackle areas of major weakness and vigorously pursue reform and opening-up.

“Based on the concerns expressed by market entities, we should apply international standards in the context of China’s marketplace to truly reflect the actual conditions on the ground,” he said.

The meeting agreed to set up a system for evaluating the business environment in China that is comparable internationally, aligned with World Bank standards and reflects Chinese features. The assessing criteria shall cover areas of immediate concern to market entities, such as ease of opening a business, construction licensing, access to electricity and credit, paying taxes, filing for bankruptcy, and the protection of intellectual property rights.

The evaluation will be carried out across the country in due course. Local authorities and departments will be encouraged to come up with more solid measures for improving the business climate.  

(Xinhua)