General

New Trends in International Trade! From the Central Economic Work Conference at the end of last year to the focus of the government's socio-economic work this year, the national level has emphasized the need to "make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment". And various regions are also continuously increasing their efforts to attract foreign investment. How different will our current approach to attracting foreign investment be compared to the past? In the new global economic situation, what breakthroughs do we need to make in attracting foreign investment this year? News 1+1: Connected to Nie Pingxiang, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, we are jointly paying attention to: in what areas should we further attract foreign investment?

How to attract foreign investment? How to stabilize foreign trade? Shanghai Releases Latest Policies

On April 4th, Shanghai released "Several Policy Measures for Promoting Stable Scale and Quality of Foreign Trade in Shanghai" and "Several Measures for Shanghai to Increase the Attraction and Utilization of Foreign Investment". Among them, several policy measures to stabilize foreign trade are aimed at promoting stable scale, promoting transformation, expanding the market, and optimizing the environment, with 21 measures mainly proposed in four aspects; Several measures to stabilize foreign investment focus on promoting the expansion and increase of foreign investment, stabilizing stock, and improving quality, mainly proposing 20 measures in four aspects. What is Shanghai doing specifically to attract foreign investment and stabilize foreign trade?

What situation and demand is China facing in attracting foreign investment this year?

Nie Pingxiang, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the situation faced by China's foreign investment this year mainly includes the following three aspects:

One is to stabilize the stock. It is to provide better services for our existing foreign-funded enterprises, provide them with better national treatment, and enable them to survive, live, and expand their operations in China, which is to stabilize foreign investment.

The second is the amplification quantity. To further expand opening up, on the one hand, it is necessary to further expand opening up in the field of modern services, and on the other hand, to better promote new foreign investment by enhancing institutional openness and other measures.

The third is to promote the entry of high-quality foreign investment. Shanghai and other places are actively promoting the introduction of high-quality foreign investment, which is consistent with the country's new stage of high-quality development and the direction of high-quality industrial development.

This year, many regions across the country have increased their efforts to attract foreign investment, with high-quality foreign investment being the key direction

Nie Pingxiang, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that one important aspect of our utilization or introduction of foreign investment this year is actually to attract high-quality foreign investment. So various places are also implementing this important central initiative, including Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and other places. High quality foreign investment, including what we refer to as the mid to high end manufacturing sector and modern service sector, has actually pushed for faster opening up, and many aspects may involve more institutional open areas. In the field of modern services, there may still be many restrictions on market access, so the next step is to push towards these aspects, which is also our next key consideration direction.

How does attracting high-quality foreign investment promote China's high-quality development?

Nie Pingxiang, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that high-quality foreign investment should support high-quality development. For example, a particularly important aspect of high-quality development is to enhance our innovation capabilities, which is our technological innovation. In the field of technological innovation, there are actually many high-quality foreign-funded enterprises, such as the R&D headquarters of foreign-funded enterprises, the R&D headquarters in the Asia Pacific region or globally. On the one hand, it can support the improvement of our innovation capabilities, and on the other hand, high-quality foreign investment can drive the improvement of high-tech capabilities of some domestic market entities through technology spillover effects, and also promote the improvement of national technological level.