Evolution of innovative policies keep city at forefront of business

The continuous efforts in optimizing the business environment have played a significant role in propelling economic vitality in Guangzhou.

The city ranked first for two consecutive years from 2020 to 2021 in the business environment assessment organized by the Development and Reform Commission of Guangdong province.

It also ranked top nationwide in business environment in 2019 and 2020 in the National Development and Reform Commission's evaluation, according to a report released by the city's development and reform commission.

According to the national evaluation, Guangzhou became a model city in 18 indices.

Its practices in five areas－construction permit, access to power supply, property registration, bankruptcy management and market supervision－were included in the China Business Environment Report 2021 as best examples.

The constantly improving business environment has encouraged the market, city officials said. According to official data, in 2021, the number of market entities in Guangzhou exceeded 3 million; the number of high-tech enterprises exceeded 12,000; and the number of Fortune Global 500 companies having invested in Guangzhou jumped to 330.

A view of the Guangzhou International Bio Island. CHINA DAILY

The added value of Guangzhou's private economy, the total retail sales of consumer goods, and the total import and export volume of commodities all hit 1-trillion-yuan scale in 2021.

Between 2018-21, Guangzhou, as one of the first batch of pilot cities in China to initiate business environment reform, carried out four rounds of business environment reforms. Each round has its own focus, such as streamlining administration and unleashing the potential of private companies.

Earlier this year, the city started its fifth round of business environment reform. The new reform focuses on nearly 40 key tasks, 223 practical measures and 76 unique ones.

For instance, in this year's reform, the latest 5G technologies are being applied to the digital and visual services for an enterprise's name registration, information change, reservation for bank account opening and other matters. Artificial intelligence and robots are also being installed to assist in procedures that open a new business involves.

To give full play to its advantages as an experimental city for comprehensive intellectual property reform in China, the latest policy proposed a series of innovative measures.

Mou Zhiping, deputy director-general of Guangzhou's development and reform commission, said that Guangzhou will seize the opportunity as a pilot city to initiate national business environment innovation and make good use of the beneficial policy, so as to promote the reform.

The government with such practical and efficient service systems is crucial in stabilizing the future development of enterprises, Wang Dazhong, a program director of Louis Dreyfus Company, said.

"I've witnessed the considerate services of the local government in person when investing in Nansha. We were deeply impressed by quick approval of project procedures, the professionalism of staff members and the incentives to boost business in the full-cycle service," Wang added.