General

Statistics recently released by the Ministry of Commerce show that in the first five months of this year, China's actual use of foreign capital increased by 22.6% year-on-year, showing a trend of high growth rate, excellent structure and stable projects. On June 29, at the regular press conference held by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Feng Yaoxiang, spokesperson of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Minister of the Trade and Investment Promotion Department, said: "From what we have learned from our recent communications with foreign-funded enterprises, China continues to optimize. The business environment has enhanced the confidence of foreign enterprises in the Chinese market, and also strengthened the determination of foreign enterprises to expand investment in China."

The special class for serving foreign-funded enterprises has achieved remarkable results

Since the establishment of a special class for serving foreign-funded enterprises on May 20, CCPIT has actively promoted the resolution of problems and demands reported by enterprises, which has been welcomed by foreign-funded enterprises and foreign business associations in China.

According to Feng Yaoxiang, the main task of the special class serving foreign-funded enterprises is to understand the demands of foreign-funded enterprises in a timely manner, actively promote the resolution of difficulties encountered by foreign-funded enterprises in their investment, production, and operation in China, and help stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment.

Since the establishment of the special class, a series of work has been carried out mainly from two aspects.

The first is to establish and improve the normalized communication mechanism with foreign business associations and foreign-funded enterprises in China, and use channels such as China Chamber of International Commerce member companies, CCPIT origin visa system, and business environment monitoring system to quickly conduct telephone interviews, questionnaire surveys and organize dialogues , extensively and deeply understand the difficulties and demands of foreign-funded enterprises, and coordinate with the relevant central and local departments to study and solve them. In order to facilitate foreign-funded enterprises to reflect their situation and demands, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has set up a hotline and e-mail, and will also build an online interactive platform in the future.

The second is to mobilize and guide the special class of the local CCPIT to carry out the work. At present, CCPITs in all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities under separate state planning have set up special classes for serving foreign-funded enterprises, and have also set up special classes or working mechanisms in major grass-roots CCPIT organizations. , opening a hotline and other means to understand the demands and opinions of local foreign-funded enterprises, and actively promote the resolution of problems and difficulties encountered by foreign-funded enterprises through corresponding working mechanisms.

"For these measures, the majority of foreign-funded enterprises and foreign business associations in China are very welcome. They believe that the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the national trade promotion system have done a good thing. They also feel the Chinese government's attention and attention to foreign-funded enterprises. Develop and expand confidence in investment." Feng Yaoxiang said.

Foreign-funded enterprises "five hopes" to optimize the business environment

Feng Yaoxiang said that based on the recent work of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, it can be known that the recent demands of foreign-funded enterprises can be summarized as "five hopes": hope to achieve full resumption of work and production as soon as possible, solve the bottleneck of international flow of people and logistics, better enjoy the bailout policy of helping enterprises, Further expand market access and further optimize the market competition environment. Specifically:

First, we hope to achieve full resumption of work and production as soon as possible. Foreign-funded enterprises are gradually resuming work, but there are still some constraints. For example, the return of personnel is less than expected, it will take time for the production capacity to fully recover, and there are still bottlenecks in logistics and transportation. The company hopes to coordinately promote the resumption of production and production of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to further ensure the smooth flow of logistics.

The second is to look forward to solving the bottleneck of international flow of people and logistics. Affected by multiple factors, it is still difficult for multinational companies to visit China and rotate, and cargo flights in some regions cannot meet the needs of enterprises. Recently, although the convenience of international personnel exchanges has gradually improved and the tension of international logistics capacity has eased, there are still fewer international passenger and cargo flights, which cannot meet the needs.

The third is to look forward to better enjoyment of the bailout policy to help enterprises. At present, various factors have led to an increase in the cost of enterprises. Some foreign-funded enterprises report a decline in revenue and profits, and some industries that have been greatly affected by the epidemic hope to receive greater policy support.

Fourth, we hope to further expand market access. Foreign-funded enterprises affirmed the positive progress China has made in expanding market access, but also raised some demands, including looking forward to studying the relaxation of foreign investment restrictions in specific fields such as medicine, and speeding up the approval process for new foreign-funded projects.

Fifth, we hope to further optimize the market competition environment. The main reason is to enjoy fairer treatment in bidding and government procurement.

It is reported that after collecting relevant appeals, CCPIT strengthened communication and coordination with relevant parties, and worked with relevant departments to actively study and promote the resolution of problems reported by foreign-funded enterprises. "Relevant ministries and commissions attach great importance to addressing the demands of foreign-funded enterprises. Some ministries and commissions organize special consultations, and some ministries and commissions hold symposiums to further understand the demands of foreign-funded enterprises and answer their questions on the spot." Feng Yaoxiang said.

Next, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade will continue to contact foreign-funded enterprises through multiple channels, extensively collect appeals, and improve the appeal processing, sorting, and statistics systems, so as to reflect the appeals of foreign-funded enterprises in a comprehensive, timely and accurate manner. At the same time, strengthen communication with relevant departments, track the progress of enterprises' appeals and timely feedback to foreign-funded enterprises, effectively solve the difficulties of foreign-funded enterprises, and enhance the confidence of foreign-funded enterprises to develop in China.

Foreign-funded enterprises are full of confidence in their development in China

It was learned from the press conference that some foreign-funded enterprises said that despite the impact of the epidemic, the long-term positive trend of China's consumption development has not changed, and the trend of consumption digitization, quality, personalization, diversification and brand upgrading is obvious. Enterprises will increase investment in innovation to continuously meet the needs of the Chinese market.

Many foreign institutions also gave positive comments on the Chinese market. According to reports, the recent report "On the Role of European Companies in China's Innovation System" submitted by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China pointed out that the European companies interviewed believe that research and development in China is of great value, and hope to expand the scale and further integrate into global strategies. .

According to the "Business Confidence Survey 2022" released by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China on June 20, European investors believe that the long-term problems facing China have improved. European companies in China continue to be optimistic about China's R&D and innovation environment, and recognize China's status as an important innovation center. 40% of the respondents said that China's R&D and innovation environment is better than the world average. In addition, more than half of the companies surveyed believe that the enforcement of China's intellectual property laws and regulations is at an excellent or adequate level.

According to the "2022 Proposal for British Companies in China" released by the British Chamber of Commerce in China on May 31, China's market potential keeps British companies optimistic, and some positive changes in the regulatory field in the past year have also provided more guarantees for companies. British companies in China firmly believe that as the epidemic improves, they will further restore their optimism.

The head of the U.S.-China Business Council also said recently that with the deep integration of Sino-U.S. trade, many U.S. companies are rationally optimistic about the Chinese market and plan to increase investment in China.

"All the above situations show that foreign-funded enterprises have full confidence in the future of the Chinese market and the sustainable and healthy development of the Chinese economy." Feng Yaoxiang said, "Serving Chinese and foreign enterprises is the foundation of CCPIT. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade will continue to increase its efforts to serve foreign-funded enterprises. It will help foreign-funded enterprises to better operate and develop in China, so that China will always become a fertile ground for global foreign investment."