China unveils guidelines on prioritizing agricultural, rural development -- Chinese central authorities on February 19 made public a raft of guidelines to prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas, and seek progress in work relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people. This year and the next will mark a decisive period for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and quite a few tough tasks must be fulfilled in the fields relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people, said a document jointly released by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council. Unswerving efforts must be made to ensure that addressing the issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people enjoy a central place on the work agenda of the CPC, the document said.
China strives to improve public services in social sector -- China has unveiled an action plan to improve the quality of public services in the social sector to help establish a strong domestic market, the economic planner said on February 19. By way of improving weak links and lifting the quality of public services, China is hoping to be blessed with public services featuring rational supplying structure, active social participation by 2020, according to the plan jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and 17 other departments. By then, the country will see improved role of public services in ensuring people's wellbeing, promoting employment and expanding consumption, said the plan. The average education for the working-age population should reach 10.8 years, the average life expectancy should be raised to 77.3 years, and the overall contribution of the tourist economy to the national economy should reach 12 percent by 2020.
Pilot reform removes permit for corporate bank account -- Companies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in east China no longer have to ask for official approval when opening bank accounts starting Feb. 25, as China continues reforms to improve its business environment. Pilot reform to the effect was tried in two cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang last year, and the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said Tuesday it will now expand the reform to the whole of the two provinces. The reform is expected to cut the average time for opening a corporate account from about four days to just one to two days.
China to impose anti-dumping duties on chicken from Brazil -- China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on February 15 announced anti-dumping measures on imported white-feather broilers and chicken products that are originated from Brazil. The domestic industry has been subject to substantial damages due to the dumping of those products, the ministry said in a final ruling after anti-dumping investigations into the imports. From Sunday, duties will be collected at rates ranging from 17.8 percent to 32.4 percent for a five-year period, the ministry said on its website. The MOC has accepted applications of price undertakings from some Brazilian exporters, meaning that anti-dumping duties will be exempted on products imported into China at prices no lower than respective minimum prices.
China suspends registration and approvals of direct selling -- China has suspended the registration and approvals of direct selling and cracked down on irregularities in the health product market, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on February 14. "We will carry out a thorough, nationwide investigation of the B2C industry," the MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told the press, adding that authorities would crack down on any illegal businesses to protect customer interests. The MOC will also improve the regulation system, tighten market access and speed up building a credit-based monitoring system of direct selling, Gao said.
China issues guideline on reinforced financial support to private enterprises -- China has published a guideline on strengthening financial support to private entities. The guideline was issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council. According to the document, differentiated monetary and credit policies should be adopted, and financial institutions are encouraged to lend more loans to private enterprises and small and micro businesses. Private companies, meeting certain requirements, could expand direct financing and are supported to issue corporate bonds. Financial institutions should increase their investment in corporate bonds issued by private businesses, said the guideline.
China to enhance efficiency, transparency of market regulation -- China will take steps to increase the efficiency and transparency in market regulation, an official of the country's market watchdog has said. Under the measures involving 16 departments which shoulder market regulation responsibilities, both regulators and inspected enterprises are selected randomly, said Ma Zhengqi, deputy head of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Such moves are aimed at boosting regulation efficiency and relieving administrative burdens on enterprises since the randomly selected regulation departments should also perform others' duties in an action, and enterprises' frequencies of being inspected are accordingly reduced.
SW China's Chengdu unveils measures to optimize e-commerce business environment -- Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province Monday introduced a total of 12 measures covering areas such as business registration and tax services to further optimize e-commerce business environment. It is reported that Chengdu's e-commerce transaction in 2018 amounted to 1.87 trillion yuan, up 28.5 percent year on year. However, the industry still faces problems such as lack of leading enterprises and irregular market order. The new measures will help solve these problems, in a bid to create an open and fair competitive environment for e-commerce participants.
China unveils world's first technical standards on EV energy consumption -- China has unveiled the world's first technical standards on energy consumption of electric vehicles (EV). The national standards specify the energy consumption limits for different types of EVs, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation. It is expected to facilitate applications of EV energy conservation technologies and reduce energy consumption. China is the world's largest EV market, with sales of new energy vehicles soaring 61.74 percent year on year to 1.26 million units in 2018.
Shanghai to step up introducing talents in key fields -- Shanghai will make its effort to attract top talents in some key fields, Shanghai Securities News reported recently. It was reported that Shanghai will offer permanent resident permits and relevant treatment for overseas talents, quicken processing of foreign expert work permit and at the same time implement the resident permit system for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents, according to the report. Besides, Shanghai will add 500,000 new jobs, help 8,000 long-term unemployed youths to get employed or start a business, and provide vocational training and other employment services for about 10,000 farmers this year.
SW China's Chengdu strives to achieve over RMB50 bln in AI industry by 2022 -- Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, recently unveiled a plan to accelerate development of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry from 2019 to 2022, aiming to bring the output value of the AI industry to more than 50 billion yuan by 2022. To accelerate the AI development, Chengdu will concentrate efforts to create a national AI industry innovation demonstration zone, and make efforts to promote construction of Singapore-Sichuan International AI Center and Jingrong AI town. In addition, Chengdu will orderly guide the city's industrial functional areas to build smart parks by centering on the the industrial positioning and AI scenarios.
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