Hubei eyes more steps for revival of businesses

The Hubei government on Thursday introduced 30 new measures to optimize the region's business environment as part of its ongoing efforts to bolster economic and social development in the epidemic-hit region.

The measures mainly center on aspects like encouraging e-government, simplifying the government's service flow, cutting the unnecessary requirements for qualification of enterprises, enhancing cross-border trade, improving tax payment processes and raising the quality and efficiency of real estate registration services.

"To effectively offset the effect of the outbreak, and implement the various tasks for epidemic prevention and control as well as boosting economic and social development, a systematic reconstruction of the business environment is needed," said Hubei Deputy Governor Huang Chuping.

"The measures will boost the vitality of market players, and help create fair competition and be a magnet for investment. The measures are expected to be an essential starting point for the country's focus on 'stabilizing employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, investment and expectations'," said Xu Baoli, a research fellow at the research center of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

The measures will also play a significant role in countering the current downward pressure on the region's economy due to the COVID-19 epidemic, he said.

Huang also said that optimizing the business environment is an important part of advancing the modernization of the governance system and governance capabilities.

Currently, economic activities in Hubei are recovering in an orderly manner. Zhu Xiaohan, director of the investment promotion bureau of the management committee of Optics Valley－it is one of the major high-tech zones in Wuhan－said the zone has been leading the city in work resumptions, while implementing strict contagion prevention and control measures.

"The zone has more than 1,000 foreign enterprises and all major foreign industrial enterprises and service enterprises have resumed work," he said.