New Highlights of Regional Development | Promoting the Construction of an "International First Class" Business Environment - New Observations on the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta - International | Environment | Business

Hefei, June 10th, Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua) - Promoting the Construction of an "International First Class" Business Environment - New Observations on the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta - Part Four

Xinhua News Agency reporter

"Speed up the creation of a new highland for reform and opening up" and "improve the business environment according to international first-class standards".... General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the forum on promoting the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the rise of regional integration development in the Yangtze River Delta to a national strategy.The 2022 Business Environment Survey of Ten Thousand Private Enterprises released by the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce shows that among the top 10 provinces with scores, all three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta region are on the list; Among the top 10 cities, the Yangtze River Delta occupies six seats, namely Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hefei.

How can enterprises respond more quickly to their needs? How to further break down administrative barriers? How to expand institutional openness on a larger scale? The reporter recently visited governments and enterprises in three provinces and one city to conduct research on this matter.

"Faster and more accurate" to provide customized services for enterprises

For Li Le, the CEO of Suzhou Medif Biotechnology Co., Ltd., the most urgent need for a company on its journey from start-up to growth is financing.

This year, Hushuguan Town, Huqiu District, Suzhou City launched the "Dangdang" service version 4.0. To meet the needs of enterprises, a specific government service team has been established in the local area, and customized services such as "butler+nanny" have been provided to achieve full chain closed-loop management of approval matters.

"Thanks to the 'Dangdang' service, we completed equity financing and factory site selection in just over two months. The headquarters and production base were completed in March of this year, and the expected revenue next year can reach 100 million yuan," Li Le told reporters.

The picture shows the R&D personnel working at Suzhou Modifu Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

Journalists found through research and visits that in the fast-paced market changes, enterprises have a more diverse demand for government services, and their expectations for accuracy and speed continue to increase. Guided by "integration" and "high quality", many regions in the Yangtze River Delta have continuously introduced precise and detailed new measures to address the urgent and difficult new problems faced by enterprises.

Wuhu City, Anhui Province has established 9 working groups, including energy, employment, logistics, financing, and taxes, with the goal of increasing the 1% profit margin of enterprises; Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province has released 20 new service brands, including the "Don't Say No" tax service hall and the "One Team Wu Guan Law Enforcement"; In this year's "6.0 version" action plan to optimize the business environment, Shanghai has launched 27 major projects and more than 190 small projects, including "pile foundation first" in the field of construction project licensing.

"The speed of responding to market changes should be faster, and the pulse and connection with the needs of enterprises should be more accurate, so that the development of enterprises can run at a faster speed." Li Le said.

Eliminating administrative barriers and breaking market segmentation

The Yangtze River Delta, with a dense water network, has developed inland waterway transportation. However, for a long time, the problems of "multiple, complex, complex, and difficult" certificates for ordinary inland cargo ships have continued to plague shipping companies, shipowners, and management departments.

Starting from the "multi certificate joint processing" of ordinary inland cargo ships and breaking through the digital integration of information, Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province has taken the lead in the industry in integrating the six certificates that were originally required for ordinary inland cargo ships into the "Inland Ship Certificate Information Book". At present, the Yangtze River Delta has fully implemented the "multi certificate integration" reform, benefiting more than 100000 ships.

The integration of multiple certificates is a microcosm of eliminating administrative barriers, breaking market segmentation, and establishing a unified and open market system in the Yangtze River Delta. According to the statistics of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office, since the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has become a national strategy in 2018, as of the end of 2022, 140 government service items in the Yangtze River Delta have been processed across provinces and cities in 41 cities, and 37 types of high-frequency electronic cards such as ID cards, driver's licenses, and driving licenses are still shared and recognized.

The picture shows the Comprehensive Service Hall of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone in Zhoushan, Zhejiang. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wei Yijun

"Integration" drives "high-quality" development, promotes factor flow and industrial chain supply and demand docking within the Yangtze River Delta region. According to statistics, as of September 2022, 1914 listed companies in the Yangtze River Delta have invested in 4381 companies in the region, with over 12000 companies receiving financing from investment institutions in the region. In 2022, 25273 technology contracts were exported between the three provinces and one city, with a technology transaction amount of 186.345 billion yuan, an increase of 20.3% and 112.5% year-on-year, respectively.

"The headquarters of Taikoo Coca Cola in China is located in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Now, the Taikoo Coca Cola Kunshan project has become our largest single investment in China to date. A higher level of openness to the outside world is tangible to us and closely related to a good business environment." said Party Building, CEO of Taikoo Coca Cola in China.

In the Hefei area of the Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone, Volkswagen Anhui plans to achieve mass production of its first vehicle model by the end of this year. "A vibrant business environment is one of the key factors for Volkswagen Anhui's success," said Hajogen, Chief Financial Officer of Volkswagen Co., Ltd.

The construction of the pilot free trade zone, initiated in Shanghai in 2013, has now achieved full coverage in the Yangtze River Delta, carrying the core economic functions of the region and becoming the forefront of the "market-oriented, legal, and internationalized first-class business environment" in the Yangtze River Delta.

Long term efforts to promote the construction of an "international first-class" business environment

The Yangtze River Delta region has played a game of chess and achieved significant results in optimizing the business environment. However, it still takes a long time to overcome the institutional and institutional obstacles that hinder the integration and improvement of the business environment.

During the investigation, the reporter learned that there are still varying degrees of problems such as insufficient data sharing, inconsistent standards for matters, and imbalanced development of government services in various regions of the Yangtze River Delta. The "Three Year Action Plan for Building an International First Class Business Environment in the Yangtze River Delta" released last year requires promoting the homology and standardization of administrative licensing matters, achieving non discriminatory acceptance and standardized handling of high-frequency government service matters in the Yangtze River Delta, exploring cross regional mutual recognition and universality of licensing documents, qualification qualifications, etc., unifying the administrative penalty discretion benchmark for illegal acts in the Yangtze River Delta region, and promoting the unity of intellectual property administrative law enforcement standards and judicial judgment standards.

"The further mutual recognition and unification of these rules and standards is conducive to the cross provincial and city development of enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region, accelerating the realization of strengthening and expanding. The new round of business environment reform reflects the reform ideas of system integration, regional integration, and smart digital." said Wu Jing'an, Deputy Director of the Maritime Silk Road Research Center at the Institute of Applied Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

By 2025, we will achieve "orderly and free flow of resource elements", "gradual elimination of administrative barriers", "significant reduction of institutional transaction costs", "comprehensive improvement of government governance efficiency", and "the first to build a market-oriented, legal, and international first-class business environment"... The "Three Year Action Plan for the Construction of an International first-class business environment in the Yangtze River Delta" outlines a new vision for the future development of the business environment in the Yangtze River Delta.

The new Lingang area of the China Free Trade Zone, captured on March 14, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fang Zhe

Building an "international first-class" business environment is always on the way. The 2022 Business Environment Survey of Ten Thousand Private Enterprises released by the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce shows that enterprises have higher demands for factors, government affairs, market, rule of law, innovation and other environments. They hope to further achieve tax reduction and fee reduction, optimize the process of government affairs in the government hall, make industrial support policies more precise, lower market access barriers, promote the introduction of high-end talents, and support technology and finance.

The Yangtze River Delta Pilot Free Trade Zone Alliance stated that the three provinces and one city pilot free trade zones will promote resource co construction and sharing, deepen linkage development this year, such as promoting the "single window" cooperation and co construction mechanism for international trade in the Yangtze River Delta, and promoting the linkage cooperation of China Europe freight trains in the Yangtze River Delta.

The reporter learned from the press conference on the achievements of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta held in Hefei, Anhui on June 6th that the three provinces and one city will strengthen the integration of institutional reform and innovation, work together to create an international first-class business environment, and serve the construction of a unified national market. Continuously promote the integration of port clearance in the Yangtze River Delta and enhance the facilitation level of cross-border trade in the region.