Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 21st, by wire
Speech at the symposium of entrepreneurs
(July 21, 2020)
Xi Jinping
Today, we are holding a symposium for entrepreneurs. One is to talk with you, the other is to encourage everyone, and the third is to listen to your opinions and suggestions on the current economic situation and the reform and development of enterprises during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
Attending today’s symposium included heads of state-owned enterprises, private entrepreneurs, managers of foreign-funded enterprises and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded enterprises, and representatives of individual industrial and commercial households. All of us are in different industries and regions, have long-term management experience, and have their own observations and thoughts on enterprise development.
Just now, 7 representatives made very good speeches. Everyone talks about the situation and seeks truth from facts, and the suggestions are highly pertinent and very valuable. I was inspired by this. Relevant departments must carefully study the opinions and suggestions put forward by entrepreneurs and formulate relevant policies and measures in a timely manner.
Now, combining your speeches, let me make a few comments.
1. Protect and stimulate the vitality of market players
Since the reform and opening up, my country has gradually established and continuously improved the socialist market economic system, the market system has continued to develop, and various market entities have grown vigorously. By the end of 2019, my country has 123 million market players, including 38.58 million enterprises and 82.61 million individual industrial and commercial households. These market entities are the main participants in my country's economic activities, the main providers of employment opportunities, and the main promoters of technological progress, and they play a very important role in the development of the country. Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, under the leadership of party committees and governments at all levels, various market entities have actively participated in the people's war against the epidemic, united and cooperated, overcome difficulties, and worked hard to save themselves, while providing strong material support for epidemic prevention and control. I take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to the majority of state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded enterprises, and individual industrial and commercial households for their contributions to epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development!
Through the joint efforts of the whole country, my country has achieved major strategic results in epidemic prevention and control, and its economic development has shown a stable and improved trend. It is at the forefront of the world in epidemic prevention and control and economic recovery. my country's economy fell sharply in the first quarter. In the second quarter, it stabilized and rebounded, turning from negative to positive, with an increase of 3.2%. In the first half of the year, GDP fell by 1.6%, and the situation was better than expected. We must strengthen our confidence, face difficulties, and strive to make up for the losses caused by the epidemic, and strive for good economic development throughout the year.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has had a huge impact on my country's economy and the world economy, and many market players in my country are facing unprecedented pressure. The main body of the market is the carrier of economic power, and the main body of the market is to protect the social productivity. Where there is life, there is hope. It is necessary to do everything possible to protect market players and to accumulate basic strength for economic development.
The Party Central Committee clearly stated that it is necessary to do a solid job of "six stability" and implement the "six guarantees" task. All regions and departments have introduced a series of policies and measures to protect and support market players. The next step is to increase policy support to stimulate the vitality of market players, so that the majority of market players can not only survive normally, but also achieve greater development.
First, implement the policies to help companies benefit from poverty. We must implement a more proactive fiscal policy, a more stable and flexible monetary policy, and enhance the pertinence and timeliness of macroeconomic policies. We must continue to reduce taxes and fees, reduce rents and interest rates, and ensure that various relief measures reach the grassroots and directly benefit market players. It is necessary to strengthen financial support for market players, develop inclusive finance, and effectively alleviate the problem of financing difficulties for enterprises, especially small, medium and micro enterprises. It is necessary to support marketable export commodities to open up the domestic market. State-owned enterprises, especially central enterprises, must play a leading and leading role in driving all types of upstream and downstream enterprises to overcome difficulties. It is necessary to strengthen international cooperation and protect the industrial chain and supply chain.
Second, create a market-oriented, legalized, and international business environment. We must implement the Civil Code and relevant laws and regulations, and equally protect the property rights and independent management rights of state-owned, private, and foreign-owned enterprises in accordance with the law, and improve the legal environment for fair competition among various market players. It is necessary to protect the legitimate rights and interests of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law, strengthen the protection of property rights and intellectual property rights, form long-term and stable development expectations, encourage innovation, tolerate failure, and create a strong atmosphere that encourages entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. It is necessary to promote streamlining of administration and decentralization, fully implement the negative list system for market access, and support enterprises to better participate in market cooperation and competition. It is necessary to implement the foreign investment law, relax market access, and promote trade and investment facilitation. Companies registered in China shall be treated equally and a level playing field shall be improved.
Third, build a pro-Qing political and business relationship. Leading cadres at all levels should openly interact with enterprises, understand what entrepreneurs think, what they are trapped in, and what entrepreneurs are thinking about. They should listen to entrepreneurs’ opinions and suggestions when formulating policies related to enterprises. At the same time, they must resolutely prevent power-for-money transactions, commercial bribery and other issues from harming politics and business. Relationship and business environment. It is necessary to give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, and to better play the role of the government. The government is the maker of market rules and the maintainer of market fairness. It must provide more quality public services. It is necessary to support entrepreneurs who have no distractions, long-term plans, perseverance in running Hengye, take root in the Chinese market, and deeply cultivate the Chinese market.
Fourth, attach great importance to supporting the development of individual industrial and commercial households. There are more than 82 million individual industrial and commercial households in my country, which has driven more than 200 million people to work. It is the largest market entity and the most direct service provider to the people’s lives. It is also facing the most practical difficulties. We must actively help individual industrial and commercial households solve problems in rent, taxes, social security, and financing, and provide more direct and effective policy assistance.
2. Promote entrepreneurship
Since the reform and opening up, a large number of courageous and innovative entrepreneurs have grown up and formed a team of Chinese entrepreneurs with distinctive characteristics of the times, national characteristics, and world standards. Entrepreneurs want to lead their enterprises to overcome current difficulties and move towards a more brilliant future. They must constantly improve themselves in terms of patriotism, innovation, integrity, social responsibility and international perspective, and strive to become a new era, building a new development pattern, building a modern economic system, A new force to promote high-quality development. Here, I offer some hopes.
First, I hope everyone will enhance their patriotism. Enterprise marketing knows no borders, and entrepreneurs have a motherland. Excellent entrepreneurs must have a lofty sense of mission and a strong sense of responsibility for the country and the nation, closely integrate the development of the enterprise with the prosperity of the country, the prosperity of the nation, and the happiness of the people, and take the initiative to bear and share the worries for the country. Love it, and harm the country evil." Patriotism is the glorious tradition of our country's outstanding entrepreneurs in modern times. From Zhang Jian in the late Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, to Lu Zuofu and Tan Kah Kee during the Anti-Japanese War, to Rong Yiren and Wang Guangying after the founding of New China, they are all models of patriotic entrepreneurs. Since the reform and opening up, a large number of patriotic entrepreneurs have also emerged in our country. Entrepreneurs love the country in various forms of realization, but first of all, it is to run a first-class enterprise, lead the enterprise to work hard, strive for the first-class, and achieve better quality, higher efficiency, stronger competitiveness, and greater influence.
Second, I hope everyone is brave to innovate. Innovation is the first driving force leading development. "Wealth is a great cause, and daily innovation is Shengde." Entrepreneur innovation is the key to promoting enterprise innovation and development. Famous entrepreneurs such as Edison and Ford in the United States, Siemens in Germany, and Konosuke Matsushita in Japan are both management masters and innovation masters. Since the reform and opening up, my country's economic development has achieved world-renowned achievements, which are inseparable from the broad entrepreneurs' vigorous promotion of the spirit of innovation. Innovation requires the courage to take risks. Dare to be the world first is the quality that needs to be promoted in order to overcome risks and challenges and achieve high-quality development. In the current pandemic, all industries are difficult, but the crisis is organic, and only innovators win. Entrepreneurs should be explorers, organizers, and leaders of innovation and development, bravely promote production organization innovation, technological innovation, and market innovation, attach importance to technology research and development and human capital investment, effectively mobilize employee creativity, and strive to build enterprises into powerful innovations The subject realizes the phoenix nirvana and rebirth from the ashes.
Third, I hope everyone will abide by the law in good faith. "The honest, the way of heaven; the honest, the way of man." People do not stand without credibility, especially for enterprises and entrepreneurs. The socialist market economy is a credit economy and an economy ruled by law. Entrepreneurs have to deal with all aspects and mobilize human, financial, material and other resources. It is difficult to move without integrity. Due to various reasons, some companies still have a lot of non-honest and even violations of regulations and laws in their business activities. The awareness of the rule of law, the spirit of contract, and the concept of compliance are important conscious norms of modern economic activities, as well as important requirements for a credit economy and an economy under the rule of law. Entrepreneurs should set an example of integrity and law-abiding, and promote the moral quality and civilization of the whole society.
Fourth, I hope everyone will take social responsibility. I said that companies have not only economic and legal responsibilities, but also social and moral responsibilities. Any enterprise that exists in society is a social enterprise. Society is the stage for entrepreneurs to display their talents. Only entrepreneurs who sincerely return to the society and fulfill their social responsibilities can truly be recognized by the society and are entrepreneurs who meet the requirements of the times. Over the years, more and more entrepreneurs have devoted themselves to various public welfare undertakings. In the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the majority of entrepreneurs actively donated money and materials, provided voluntary services, and made important contributions, which deserve full recognition. At present, employment pressure is increasing, and some workers face the risk of unemployment. Caring for employees is an important aspect of entrepreneurs in fulfilling their social responsibilities. They must work hard to stabilize jobs, care about employees' health, and work with them to tide over difficulties.
Fifth, I hope everyone will expand their international horizons. There is so much vision, so much mind. Since the reform and opening up, Chinese entrepreneurs have exercised and grown in the international market, and their ability to use both domestic and international markets and resources has been continuously improved. In the past 10 years, Chinese enterprises have significantly accelerated their pace of going global, and have participated in international market development more broadly and deeply, and more and more world-class enterprises have emerged. In recent years, economic globalization has encountered a countercurrent and economic and trade frictions have intensified. Some companies have adjusted their industrial layout and global resource allocation based on factors such as factor costs and trade environment considerations. This is a normal adjustment of production and operation. At the same time, we should see that China is the world's largest market with the most potential and has the most complete industrial supporting conditions. Entrepreneurs should base themselves on China, look at the world, improve their ability to grasp international market trends and demand characteristics, improve their ability to grasp international rules, improve their ability to develop international markets, improve their ability to prevent international market risks, and drive enterprises to achieve a higher level of opening up Better development and promote domestic and international dual cycles.
3. Concentrate on your own affairs
As I said at this year’s national "two sessions", facing the future, we must gradually form a new development pattern in which domestic and international cycles are the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promote each other. The main considerations are: the world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are flourishing. In the past, under the external environment of the in-depth development of economic globalization, the "two ends" of the market and resources played an important role in the rapid development of my country. In the current external environment of rising protectionism, downturn in the world economy, and shrinking global markets, we must give full play to the advantages of the domestic super-large-scale market, and add impetus to my country's economic development by prospering the domestic economy and smoothing the domestic cycle to drive the recovery of the world economy. It is necessary to enhance the modernization level of the industrial chain and supply chain, vigorously promote technological innovation, accelerate the research on key core technologies, and create new advantages for future development.
I have repeatedly emphasized that China’s door to opening up will not be closed, it will only open wider and wider. With the domestic big cycle as the main body, it is by no means a closed door to operate, but by leveraging the potential of domestic demand, making the domestic market and the international market better connected, and making better use of the two international and domestic markets and two resources to achieve a stronger economy. Continuous development. From a long-term perspective, economic globalization is still a historical trend, and the division of labor and cooperation between countries and mutual benefit and win-win results are long-term trends. We must stand on the right side of history, persist in deepening reform, expanding opening up, strengthening open cooperation in the field of science and technology, promoting the building of an open world economy, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Beginning next year, my country will enter the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. This is the first five years of the new journey of building a socialist modern country on the basis of building a well-off society in all respects. It is of great significance. The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the formulation of the "14th Five-Year Plan", and relevant preparations are underway. Today, everyone has put forward a lot of valuable opinions and suggestions on the formulation of the "14th Five-Year Plan", please study and absorb them carefully. I believe that through joint efforts, the majority of enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households will certainly play a greater role and achieve greater development in the process of my country's socialist modernization.