ISLAMABAD: In recent years, Beijing has stepped up efforts to build a digital business demonstration zone, attracting an array of major projects.
These included Beijing International Big Data Exchange, China Beijing Environment Exchange (now China Beijing Green Exchange), Ueda Yagi Money Broking (China), the first wholly foreign-owned money broker in China, and Allianz Insurance Asset Management, the leading insurance asset management company entirely foreign in China.
The move follows vigorous efforts by the city to build an integrated national demonstration zone for greater openness in the service sector and a pilot free trade zone (FTZ), the People’s Daily said in an article.
Since last September, Beijing has accomplished 80% of the tasks set for three to five years in the construction of the two zones. In addition, it promoted 10 of its best practices in the country and implemented 34 policies introduced in the country for the first time.
The pilot free zone, which covers 0.7% of the city’s area, contributed 7% of Beijing’s economic growth and 28% of the increase in the number of foreign-invested enterprises in the city.
In addition, it provides strong support to Beijing in collecting factors of production from all over the world and developing it into an international hotspot of openness and innovation.
Liu Meiying, deputy head of the group’s main office for the two zones at the recent China International Trade in Services Fair (CIFTIS) in 2021, said that being the only city in China to build such zones, Beijing has put several policies and systems in place to expand market access for foreign investors and facilitate capital flows.
Yan Ligang, head of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said, “In pursuit of a bright future through digital technologies, we will take advantage of the CIFTIS platform, fully play the role of Beijing as a capital, align national rules with high-level international economic and trade rules to improve levels of trade in services in key areas.
These include digital trade, finance, culture, professional services, education and healthcare, and further liberalize and facilitate the cross-border flow of factors of production, to form a system of governance of trade in goods. efficient and safe services, he said.
To advance the construction of a digital commerce demonstration zone and further facilitate the flow of data, Beijing established the Beijing International Big Data Exchange, piloted the cross-border data flow, and explored a regulatory sandbox mechanism for the market. data for security reasons. in the digital economy.
Beijing has also advanced international cooperation on digital commerce, striving to build a world-class digital commerce port and foster mechanisms for collaboration.
Driven by construction policies in the two zones, more than 1,035 foreign-invested enterprises launched projects in Beijing from January to July, an increase of 55.2% year-on-year.
During the same period, the city’s actual use of foreign capital reached $ 10.33 billion, 19.1 percent higher than the same period last year.
The Chinese capital has also taken steps to simplify work-related formalities for foreign talent. It has also enabled foreign talents with permanent residence permits to set up science and technology companies and ensured that they are treated the same in the market as Chinese entrepreneurs, allowing them to set up more easily their own business.
“We are at the forefront and have great potential to integrate it into online and offline health services before, during and after consultations,” said Zhu Hailuan, vice president of the Chinese branch of Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical company which created a production base in Beijing in 1995.