Guests deliver keynote speeches at the 2023 Forum on Innovation and Development of International Business held in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, on December 20, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of forum organizer

Multiple participants of the 2023 Forum on Innovation and Development of International Business, which was held on Wednesday by the Global Times in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, have shared their thoughts on China's increasingly optimized business environment and its contribution to the nation's high-quality opening-up. 

Against the backdrop of a weak global post-pandemic economic recovery, China's economy has demonstrated strong resilience, potential, and vitality. Domestic and foreign economists expect that China will achieve its 2023 economic growth target of 5 percent.

The miracles created by China's economy in past decades and its future high-quality development process can't be separated from the continuous optimization of the business environment, Wu Tianhong, general manager of the Global Times, said at the forum. 

Wu further emphasized that the business environment plays a crucial role in seeking development progress by providing a "business-friendly" atmosphere, attracting high-quality enterprises to establish themselves in cities, advancing the progress of the cities' soft power, and accelerating the process of Chinese-style modernization.

'Lightweight shoes' 

"The business environment is like a pair of shoes for market players and entrepreneurs. If these are a pair of lightweight shoes that allow entrepreneurs to move swiftly, then companies will definitely develop quickly and thrive in such an environment," Zhuang Congsheng, former vice president of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said at the forum. 

A variety of Chinese regions have prioritized the construction of business environments that play a vital role in bolstering local economic development.

Su Cuifang, vice mayor of the Ordos Municipal People's Government, said that Ordos has set up a working group dedicated to optimizing the business environment. The city's business environment optimization conference has been earmarked as the "first meeting of the year" for three consecutive years. 

Yanta District in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has been awarded the title of the first batch of innovative demonstration zones for business environment in Shaanxi Province. An official from the district said during the forum that the district has always regarded the business environment as the core competitiveness of high-quality development and strived to create its own business environment brand. 

An official from Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province said that the inclusive and open international business environment is a distinctive feature and gilded signboard of the city. For instance, the city now boasts 105 marine shipping routes while the container routes cover ports from all core members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. 

Huang Guozhen, vice mayor of Changzhi in North China's Shanxi Province, said that the city has been creating a "predictable, developable, and trustworthy" business environment with "no discrimination, no barriers, and no worries." 

Increased investment attractiveness

Demonstrable effects of continued innovation are a major reason for enterprises praising China's business environment. 

Xi'an is a pilot city for multiple national-level innovation and reform programs, which has successively implemented more than a thousand innovation and reform measures to improve its business environment targeting key sectors, Lü Laisheng, executive vice mayor of Xi'an, said at the forum. 

An official from Lianhu district in Xi'an said that the district has been ramping up efforts in elevating service quality to cultivate local enterprise growth. 

Shenyang in Liaoning has been promoting a digitally-powered business environment and has witnessed the successful digitization and dispensation of government services, Duan Jiyang, the city's vice mayor, said. For instance, the city has issued 39.45 million e-certificates to date. 

Jinshitan Scenic Area, a signature tourist spot in Dalian, has been upgrading its business environment. The area has introduced more than 30 cultural and tourism projects with a total investment of more than 33 billion yuan ($4.62 billion) over the last four years, Liu Jinhong, the area's party secretary, said. 

Solid support

The business environment plays an indispensable role in promoting the development of local industrial chains. The optimization of the business environment has attracted industrial agglomeration and development on one hand, while the improvement of the industrial chain has become a new highlight of the local business environment.

A favorable business environment has accelerated the growth of enterprises in Weihai, East China's Shandong Province, as the number of state-level high-tech enterprises and science and technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises in Weihai reached 4,370, Kong Fanping, Weihai's mayor, said at the forum. 

Faku county - a traditionally agricultural county in Shenyang, has also realized development through new industries. The county has been building an industry chain for ceramic materials, while vigorously constructing an aviation industry base for Shenyang, Kong Deshu, Faku's county head, said. 

The Global Times also learned that Chengdu, located in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, has been upgrading its business environment policy system from version 1.0 to 5.0. As 2023 marks the first year since the city's implementation of regulations to optimize the local business environment, a group of projects worth over 10 billion yuan have been successfully landed. 

The achievements of the above-mentioned cities exemplify China's high-quality economic transformation. China's economy is transitioning from a focus on speed and quantity to one that relies on technological innovation, as well as green and low-carbon sectors, with the ultimate goal of achieving high-quality development, Yao Jingyuan, a special researcher at the Counselors' Office of the State Council, said at the forum.