Ideas to brighten biz climate mark two sessions

Making domestic business rules better align with international ones and providing stronger support to private-sector incubators and industrial parks — these are among the suggestions made by national lawmakers and political advisers to improve the business environment in the country.

They made the suggestions during the annual gatherings of the deputies of the country's top legislature and members of the top political advisory body in Beijing.

Their suggestions also included creating an environment where science and technology enterprises and talent can not only grow but thrive, and building a stable, transparent and predictable policy environment characterized by a combination of an effective market and an efficient government, ultimately aiming to continue to promote high-standard opening-up.

In the current situation marked by various challenging domestic and global factors, economic progress has become inseparable from continuous optimization of business environment. Only by better adopting marketization, rule of law and internationalization as the criteria can the market better attract and retain enterprises from home and abroad, and fully stimulate their endogenous power and potential, they said.

National legislator Tian Xuan, who is also associate dean of Tsinghua University's PBC School of Finance, suggested strengthening top-level design and establishing a unified working mechanism across the country to expand the breadth and depth of opening-up.

He suggested that by hosting important national economic and trade platforms, such as the China International Import Expo in Shanghai and the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, the authorities concerned can further compare the local business rules, regulations, management and standards with the advanced ones internationally and make continuous improvements.

"Also, different areas are encouraged to break through regional policy barriers and realize a comprehensive connection between opening-up to the international society and opening to other areas within the country. That will help the gradual formation of business environment with consistent rules and efficient coordination between international and domestic societies and across different regions within the country," he said.

National political adviser Wang Yu, who is also chairman and president of Spring Airlines, said that in terms of international commercial arbitration, there is still space for improvement in local laws and regulations compared with the mature legal systems in Europe and the United States.

"Shanghai can take the lead in experimenting, and construct a legal system in some professional fields and sectors related to its major goal of building itself into an international center for financial services, trade, shipping, and scientific and technological innovation," said Wang.

Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, said on the sidelines of the two sessions on Wednesday that as a main step for the city to create a better business environment this year, it will vigorously remove the hidden thresholds and barriers that hinder a unified market and fair competition.

"A good business environment is regarded as a shining business card for Shanghai. Through updates annually, seven versions of reform plans regarding business environment have been unveiled in Shanghai. They include 150 reform measures in five aspects launched this year," said Gong.

Last year, the daily average number of new enterprises established in Shanghai reached 1,904, up 28 percent. Meanwhile, foreign investment in Shanghai reached a new high, reaching $24 billion last year, he said.

Some legislators and political advisors applauded the country's recent move to start drafting a new law on promoting the private sector. Lyu Hongbing, a political adviser and a prominent lawyer in Shanghai, said such a legislation will help guarantee private enterprises to have equal market access, especially in the transaction of public resources, such as government procurement, bidding and land transfer, as well as have equal opportunities in market competition.

Ouyang Shijia contributed to this story.