On August 17, Liu Meiying, Member of Party Leadership Group of Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau and Deputy Head of Beijing "Two Zones" Office, stated at a press conference on the "two zones" development in the first half of 2023 that 7,035 projects were added to the project pool, up 208.1% year-on-year. Besides, 4,430 projects, 63.0% of the total, were newly launched, exceeding the annual target by 23 percentage points.
From January to June, foreign investment in actual use in Beijing reached 60% of the annual target, totaling US$9.9 billion. Notably, the Pilot Free Trade Zone accounted for 14.9% of the city's total foreign investment in actual use and 26% of the total contracted foreign investment, gradually demonstrating its strong appeal for investment.
According to Liu, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the national pilot free trade zone, and the Beijing "two zones" development is also embracing its third anniversary. At this juncture, the focus of the "two zones" development is on producing tangible results while stressing opening-up, market perception and government support, to promote institutional innovation, enhance industrial park quality and advance project implementation. Efforts were also made to improve the synergies of all factors, delivering new achievements of all tasks.
As Beijing prioritized the high-level opening-up of industries, technological innovation gained stronger momentum. Various policies were issued to help enterprises lower their operating costs, ranging from income tax incentives for both enterprises in technology transfer and corporate venture capital enterprises to the approval right after registration for high-tech enterprises. Moreover, the number of certified foreign-funded R&D centers has increased to 73 in three batches, accompanied by supporting measures such as incentive programs.
Innovation in the financial sector has been further energized. The Zhongguancun Financial Reform Pilot Zone for High-tech Enterprises was approved for construction. The financial technology innovation supervision pilot program launched 26 projects in five groups cumulatively, with six of them already completing the test. Meanwhile, securities companies such as CICC and China Securities obtained the qualification for carbon emission rights trading.
Policy innovations have further boosted the medical and health sector. The first national pilot store for personalized cosmetics services landed in Beijing. In addition, a "one-stop" window for customs clearance and inspection of imported medicines was put in place, which could offer 24-hour integrated services for customs clearance and sampling of imported medicines. The procedure could be finished 15 days ahead of the statutory time limit at this window.
The commerce, culture, tourism and education sectors have seen further opening-up. The registration of foreign-related economic and technological exhibitions could be completed online on the same day of application, which streamlined the procedures for large events and promoted the recovery of the exhibition industry. The updated version of "Beijing Cultural and Tourism Investment and Financing" on the trading platform for cultural and tourism resources was launched to ensure the effective matching of culture and tourism resources and products with the capital market. In addition, Beijing has introduced internationally advanced educational resources to enhance its vocational education, including two foreign-invested vocational training institutions, namely Deloitte Business Skills Training (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Beijing Sino-German Rhine Vocational Training School.
The integrated services for international talent have been further optimized. Beijing carried out the pilot program by issuing the criteria for the recognition of top-notch foreign talent, and the Catalogue of Occupations (Job Types) in Urgent Demand for Skilled Workers, to expand and facilitate the introduction of overseas talent. Furthermore, Beijing has made joint application service for work permits and work-type residence permits available for foreign nationals, and delegated the right to grant work permits to foreigners (including A, B and C categories of talent) to lower levels. In addition, it further simplified the application materials and shortened the time limit for the procedures. Over 2,300 applicants have obtained the permits from their nearby offices.
Beijing continued to improve its investment environment. The notification and commitment system was adopted for the commercial performance brokerage institutions in the Pilot Free Trade Zone. A number of innovative policies have been implemented, such as adding carbon dioxide emission accounting and evaluation into the environmental impact assessment of construction projects.
As important components of the "two zones", the construction of key parks (clusters) has been further consolidated. Beijing made great efforts to improve the Pilot Free Trade Zone. The first Zhongguancun Comprehensive Bonded Zone characterized by R&D and innovation has been established. The Beijing innovation service stations for pharmaceuticals and medical devices were opened in the Life Science Park and E-Town respectively, serving nearly 300 enterprises cumulatively. The China Beijing Green Exchange made progress in building the national trading center for China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER), with a successful preliminary acceptance check of its registration and trading systems. Lize Financial Business District is now home to the Chinese headquarters of TTMFS (a global cross-border payment company), the largest securities asset management company in China, and other financial and tech enterprises. Huairou Science City has set up a technological information service platform for the Beijing Huairou National Science Center and completed the first phase construction of an international community.
(Reporter: Chen Lin)
