【Seeking progress while maintaining stability and looking at the general trend】
In Hainan with blue sea and blue sky, with the gradual implementation of the free trade port policy, domestic and foreign companies have set off an investment boom. Recently, the first batch of key projects in Hainan Free Trade Port in 2022 will be signed, and major foreign-funded projects such as biomedicine will be unveiled; Beijing, benefiting from the acceleration of the construction of the "two districts", the continuous increase of high-tech transnational investment, and the digital economy has gradually become a new growth pole for Beijing's economic development... High-level opening up attracts high-quality foreign investment.
"In the past two years, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the adjustment of the global industrial chain and supply chain layout, global cross-border investment has fluctuated greatly. However, China's use of foreign capital has always maintained steady growth." Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said that China has always been a hot spot for foreign investment. .
In 2021, China's foreign investment will hit a record high again, breaking through 1 trillion yuan for the first time and reaching 1.15 trillion yuan. It is the first time in the past ten years to achieve double-digit growth, with a growth rate of 14.9%.
The proportion of foreign investment in high-tech industries exceeded 30% for the first time.
China's magnetism for attracting foreign capital is unabated, and international investors and multinational companies are casting a vote of confidence in China with their actions.
Rapid growth in foreign investment in the first quarter
At present, a modern automobile factory is under construction in Tiexi District, Shenyang, which is BMW's third vehicle plant in Shenyang.
BMW Group's investment in the Chinese market continues to increase.
"The importance of the Chinese market is increasing. China's technological development, especially in digitalization, leads the world. We hope to cooperate with local Chinese partners to create a win-win situation," said Zipse, chairman of the BMW Group. 2022 is still a very challenging year, but it is also a milestone year for the BMW Group, which will continue to move towards higher goals in China.
Since 2021, my country has launched a series of policies to stabilize foreign investment, including further reducing the negative list for foreign investment access, and continuously optimizing the foreign investment environment.
The restrictions on foreign shareholding ratios in the field of automobile manufacturing have been fully lifted, providing a broader space for foreign automobile companies to develop in China.
The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized that efforts should be made to attract foreign investment.
This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment, and support foreign investment to increase investment in mid-to-high-end manufacturing, research and development, modern services and other fields, as well as in the central, western and northeastern regions.
From January to March this year, my country's foreign investment has grown rapidly year-on-year, achieving a stable opening, and foreign investment has achieved double-digit growth. The country's actual use of foreign capital is 379.87 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.6%.
The introduction of investment in high-tech industries has grown rapidly.
The actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech industry was 132.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52.9%.
Among them, the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 35.7%, and the high-tech service industry increased by 57.8%.
The eastern, central and western investment increased in an all-round way.
The actual use of foreign capital in the eastern, central and western regions of my country increased by 23.4%, 60.7% and 21.9% year-on-year respectively.
21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across the country have achieved double-digit growth in the actual use of foreign capital.
Since the beginning of this year, my country's economy has continued to recover steadily, the effect of the policy of stabilizing foreign investment has continued to show, and the business environment has been continuously optimized.
Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that my country has adopted a series of measures to stabilize growth to stabilize the expectations of all parties, and foreign investment continues to be optimistic about the Chinese economy.
Looking forward to the whole year, it is still expected to maintain a stable momentum.
Foreign companies are full of confidence in the growth of the Chinese market
"BMW is very confident in the medium and long-term development prospects in China, and will continue to expand investment in the Chinese market." Zipse said that BMW's success in China is inseparable from the joint venture BMW Brilliance, and the joint venture contract between the two parties has been renewed. to 2040.
In 2021, Standard Chartered's newly built Standard Chartered Greater Bay Area Center project in Guangzhou will begin operations.
“We’ve been investing heavily in China,” said Wintos, chief executive of Standard Chartered. “We are applying to set up a securities firm in Beijing. We have just announced an additional $300 million in China-related investments to ensure we do our best Help clients seize the opportunities of China's continued economic opening."
Similarly, Heraeus, a German technology company, has overcome the impact of the epidemic since the beginning of this year, and has stepped up efforts to promote nearly 10 projects with a total investment of about 200 million US dollars in many places in China.
At the signing ceremony of the Haikou market concentration, Zhang Meng, vice president of Huizhi's Greater China Region, said that Hainan Free Trade Port has a first-class policy environment and service concept, and it is believed that there will be good development prospects for investment here.
In recent years, my country has continued to relax market access, reducing the negative list for foreign investment access nationwide and in pilot free trade zones for five consecutive years.
The Ministry of Commerce recently held a symposium for foreign-funded enterprises in the automotive industry chain. The participating foreign-funded enterprises are full of confidence in the growth of the Chinese market.
Some companies said that although the auto industry faces challenges such as chip shortages and the impact of the epidemic in 2021, the production and sales of China's auto market will increase by 3.4% and 3.8% year-on-year, especially the new energy vehicle market, with production and sales exceeding 3.5 million units. , an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year.
The participating companies were generally optimistic about the economic prospects and market potential of China's long-term and stable development, and expressed that they would insist on taking China as one of the most important overseas markets.
"China's determination to persist in opening up is encouraging." Foreign-funded enterprises welcomed China's expanded opening-up policy and showed strong interest in China's economic development strategy.
The participating companies generally believed that China is accelerating the realization of innovative development and green development, which is conducive to the implementation of electrification strategies by foreign auto companies in China. Many companies expressed that they will continue to increase investment in new energy vehicle manufacturing and technology research and development.
The big open Chinese market will surely provide more opportunities for companies from all over the world to develop in China.
At the symposium, relevant enterprises also put forward specific suggestions and demands on smooth logistics and transportation, stabilizing industrial and supply chains, further strengthening communication in the process of policy formulation, and promoting international exchanges and cooperation on industry standards.
The policy of stabilizing foreign investment is expected to make further efforts
Under the special background of the epidemic, the global economic situation is still uncertain.
Recently, the domestic epidemic has shown the characteristics of multiple points, wide area and frequent occurrence, which has caused a certain impact on the production and operation activities of domestic and foreign enterprises.
How to further stabilize the growth of foreign capital?
Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said that recently, the domestic epidemic has been characterized by multiple, widespread and frequent occurrences, which has had a certain impact on the production and operation activities of domestic and foreign enterprises.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to this. Under the foreign trade and foreign investment coordination mechanism, a special class for key foreign investment projects has been set up. The Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments and local governments, has actively taken measures to help enterprises solve possible difficulties and problems, especially those in key areas of the epidemic. Foreign-funded enterprises, coordinate and solve specific problems in the resumption of work and production, personnel entry, logistics and transportation.
Through the joint efforts of all parties, the difficulties reported by some enterprises have been gradually eased.
"In the next step, we will continue to pay close attention to the epidemic situation, further play the role of special classes for key foreign-funded projects, and work with relevant departments and localities to respond quickly to new situations and new problems reported by foreign-funded enterprises, and coordinate and solve them in a timely manner to help enterprises achieve stability. Orderly operation." Shu Jueting said.
Looking at the whole year, what measures will my country take to stabilize the scale of foreign investment and optimize the structure of foreign investment?
Wang Wentao pointed out that to further expand high-level opening up and further optimize the business environment, the main efforts are in two aspects: one is to maintain stability and the other is to promote excellence.
To maintain stability is to stabilize the stock and promote the increase.
In the future, market access for foreign capital will be further relaxed.
In addition, make good use of some major exhibitions such as the China International Investment and Trade Fair and the China Expo, 21 free trade pilot zones, Hainan Free Trade Port, 230 national-level economic open zones, and "1+4" service industry expansion and opening demonstration pilot areas, etc. The role of the platform in attracting investment.
At the same time, the special class for key foreign investment projects of the foreign trade and foreign investment coordination mechanism will continue to increase services in helping enterprises to stabilize investment, production, and operation, and promote the early signing of projects, early production, and early production.
Promoting excellence means optimizing structure and improving quality.
In recent years, the overall structure of my country's utilization of foreign capital has been continuously optimized, but the scale and proportion of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry have shown a downward trend.
In this regard, the next step of the Ministry of Commerce will promote the strengthening of support for attracting foreign investment in the manufacturing industry, revise and expand the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment", and guide foreign investment to invest more in advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, digital economy, green development and other fields.
At the same time, it is necessary to implement major regional strategies and regional coordinated development strategies, support the central and western regions to play their own advantages, cultivate new industries, undertake the gradient transfer of industries in coastal areas, and create new growth poles for attracting investment.
(Reporter Zhang Yi)