Report on the Work of the Government 2014 (extract)

 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers the government work report during the opening meeting of the second session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2014. 

III. Major Tasks for 2014

2.Ushering in a new phase of China's opening to the outside world and ensuring its high standard performance

Opening up and reform have been launched as integral parts of the same initiative as they are mutually reinforcing. We will foster a new open-economy system and advance a new round of opening up to embrace the international market. This will lead to deeper reform and structural adjustment and enable us to enhance China's ability to compete internationally.

We will open China wider to the outside world in all areas.

We will continue to utilize foreign investment actively and efficiently, open up more service sectors to foreign capital, and level the playing field for domestic and foreign enterprises to compete on fair terms so as to ensure that China remains a top choice for foreign investment. We will ensure the successful building and management of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone so that this model can be copied and extended, and we will launch a number of new trials. We will open China's inland and border areas wider to the outside world, and turn these broad areas into hotspots for opening up.

We will make it a strategic priority to upgrade exports and promote balanced growth of foreign trade.

Total imports and exports are projected to grow at around 7.5% this year. We will keep export policies stable and improve them, accelerate reform to facilitate customs clearance, and extend trials of cross-border e-commerce. We will implement policies to encourage imports, and import more products in short supply in China. We will guide the transformation and upgrading of processing trade, support businesses in creating Chinese brands and developing international marketing networks, develop service trade and undertake services outsourced by other countries, and raise the position of Chinese manufacturing in the global division of labor. We will encourage the export of complete sets of large equipment including telecommunications equipment, railways equipment, and power stations, and enhance the international reputation of Chinese equipment.

We will increase China's competitiveness through expanding its overseas business presence.

We will carry out reform of the management of outbound investment so that such investment is mainly reported for the record, and delegate much of the review and approval power over such investment to lower-level governments. We will provide better financial, legal and consular services, ensure orderly overseas business operations, and boost the export of products, project contracting and labor services.

We will intensify the planning and building of a Silk Road economic belt and a 21st century maritime Silk Road, and promote the building of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. By launching a number of major projects, we will speed up infrastructure connectivity with our neighbors, and open up new space for enhancing international economic and technologic cooperation.

We will engage in bilateral, multilateral and regional opening up and cooperation in a coordinated way.

We will strive to make progress in negotiations on agreements concerning trade in services, government procurement and information technology, and speed up negotiations on new areas such as environmental protection and e-commerce. We will actively participate in developing high-standard free trade areas; continue negotiations on investment agreements with the United States and the European Union, and accelerate free trade area negotiations with the Republic of Korea, Australia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. We will continue to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, strive for mutual benefit with other countries, and ensure that opening up reinforces and is reinforced by reform and development.