At 7:00 pm on June 12th, Beijing time, the forum on "Optimization of Business Environment for Developing Countries" jointly hosted by the MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai) and the College of Business and Economics was successfully held. The forum was conducted both online and offline. Professor Zhang Qichen, vice dean of Business and Economics and deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office, presided over the forum. Xu Xin and Wang Qian, associate professors of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics delivered keynote speeches as Chinese experts. Then Sylvester Mwale, an investment coordinator from Zambia, spoke as a representative of foreign experts. A total of 51 participants from 19 countries participated in the forum online, including Afghanistan, Albania, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zambia.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to "improve the fundamental system of the market economy such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit, so as to optimize the business environment" and "create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized". In the process of promoting high-quality development, China has always placed an important position on creating a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, so as to create a first-class business environment to further stabilize social expectations, boost development confidence and stimulate market vitality. This forum aims to hold the " seminar on law-based international business environment for developing countries ", focusing on creating a first-class business environment that is law-based and internationalized, enhancing experience exchange and practical cooperation on business environment construction, promoting full understanding and mutual learning between China and developing countries on business environment construction, thus, further promoting the quality and efficiency of business environment construction in developing countries and injecting strong impetus into global trade, investment, and economic development.
With the theme of “China's annual report on trade facilitation”, Xu Xin elaborated the definition and specific measures of trade facilitation from three aspects: increasing transparency, optimizing customs clearance procedures, and establishing administrative and judicial reports. Combined with the annual report, he analyzed the core contents and progress of China's implementation of trade facilitation measures, and pointed out the positive significance of reasonable trade facilitation measures in promoting trade and investment, which inspired officials from developing countries to consider how to actively utilize trade facilitation measures to optimize the business environment.
Under the theme of "China's Business Environment Reform", Wang Qian quoted detailed data to introduce the situation of global business environment construction and the process of China's business environment construction. Then she specifically explained China's measures and substantive results in promoting business environment optimization from eight aspects, such as enterprise establishment, project permit, electricity bill payment, minority investor rights and interests, tax and fee policy, cross-border trade, contract execution, bankruptcy liquidation, etc., and put forward two directions in the future development, namely, promoting the reform of property rights registration system and assist in obtaining credit. After her speech, officials from developing countries gained a better understanding of China's business environment practices.
Sylvester Mwale first introduced basic national conditions and economic and trade development in Zambia. Then he expressed that the Zambian government is actively promoting investment stimulation and preferential policies from the central government and local governments to enable foreign investors to invest in Kenyan industries, but he further pointed out that incoherent policies, lack of infrastructure to promote trade and investment and inadequately skilled labor constitute the three main obstacles hindering investment at present. Also, he proposed improvement measures from four aspects: increasing policy coherence, strengthening infrastructure construction, promoting partnerships between local and foreign investors, and strengthening the government's rule of law.
During the exchange and discussion, participants and Chinese experts had a heated discussion on topics such as the economic development of developing countries, China's foreign direct investment, and the relationship between combating corruption and optimizing the business environment. Chinese experts gave detailed answers from their respective perspectives.
This forum closely followed the hot topic of business environment construction, with substantial content and heated discussions, which provides a window for developing countries to understand China's business environment construction, builds a platform for China to exchange policy experiences with developing countries, and achieves good results of mutual learning and common progress.
Written by: Liang Bo
Photos by: Li Zheng
Reviewed by: Chen Wei
