On the morning of December 12, 2020, Cai Qi, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, visited the CBD and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area with the heads of 16 districts and relevant departments to inspect the study and implementation of the guiding principles of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the progress in the development of the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as Two Zones). The first meeting of the leading group for developing the Two Zones was held during the inspection. Cai Qi stressed that the establishment of the Two Zones was an important policy of the central government to support the opening-up and development of Beijing, which provided Beijing with both great opportunities and more responsibilities as the country is fostering a new development paradigm. He required that all districts and departments of Beijing must strengthen their sense of responsibility and urgency, and race against time to complete their tasks. Cai Qi said that Beijing must spearhead the opening-up of the services sector and the establishment of pilot free trade zones and make solid progress in developing the Two Zones to develop a Beijing model of reform and opening-up. Chen Jining, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Mayor of Beijing, Li Wei, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, Ji Lin, Chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, and Zhang Yankun, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, also participated in the inspection.
The first stop of the inspection was the Beijing CBD International Talent Pool in the international business service area of the pilot free trade zone. It is the first one-stop service center for international talent in the zone, integrating 120 services of 19 relevant departments for high-caliber Chinese and foreign talent. The municipal leaders inspected the operation of the service center and the services at windows and learned about the planning of the international business service area and the progress in introducing projects. Cai Qi required further efforts for institutional innovation to enable one-stop services. He said that Beijing must create a world-class business environment, bring in high-end foreign resources and improve the services for international talent. Beijing Bio-Platform International Logistics Service Co., Ltd. (the southern platform) in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area is the first third-party public platform in China specialized in the import and export of biomedicine. It has established a one-stop regulatory service mechanism for inbound and outbound inspection and quarantine of special items in the field of biomedicine. Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area has introduced a new regulation model of import and export of biomedical reagents, which has significantly shortened the time required for import and export. Cai Qi spoke favorably of the government-supported one-stop service model operated by a third party under centralized regulation. He required that the zone should make good use of the Two Zone policies and strengthen its cooperation with the customs to improve the procedures, strengthen regulation and pursue safety, convenience and efficiency.
Cai Qi said at the meeting that since the mobilization meeting for the building of the Two Zones, Beijing had made some initial progress in various fields of work, but there were also problems. He required accelerated and coordinated efforts and self-reliance to implement the plans of the municipal government and make steady progress in the development of the Two Zones. Greater efforts should be made in reform and innovation. Focusing on scientific and technological innovation, opening-up of the services industry, digital economy, and regional coordinated opening-up, Beijing needs to introduce new institutions with strong catalytic effect and good endowment that can satisfy the needs of national strategies. A list of tasks should be created to implement the projects one by one. All relevant personnel must fulfill their responsibilities in implementing policies, utilizing space and development of target enterprises. "One project pool and four mechanisms" should be promoted to invite and implement projects of leading firms worldwide and bring in iconic, pioneering and innovative projects in line with the city's strategic positioning, especially foreign-funded projects and headquarters. We must have a global vision, be forward-looking, and grasp the opportunity of favorable policies, take proactive measures to blaze a trail and "start a gambit". We must balance development and safety and guard against various risks.
Cai Qi spoke of the need to stimulate sci-tech innovation. Beijing must create a world-class environment for innovation and entrepreneurship with preferential policies, innovative mechanisms and key platforms and projects to facilitate the development of Beijing as an international innovation center. Efforts should be accelerated to grant researchers ownership over or long-term right to use their on-the-job research findings, and explore market-based institutions of empowerment, assessment and distribution of benefits, etc. Beijing needs to develop a mechanism for whole-process intellectual property transfer, advance the establishment of the Beijing intellectual property exchange, and accelerate the certification of high-tech enterprises in key areas to achieve "approval upon application". Measures are required to support the development of makerspaces and startup hubs, encourage platforms for private equity transfer and build a third-party test platform for autonomous vehicles across China.
Cai Qi stressed high-quality development of industries. Beijing should focus on digital economy, promote sharing of public data, improve security of data of different types and levels, speed up the pilot program of cross-border data flow, and introduce rules in key areas such as information technology security, data and privacy protection and so on. Accelerated efforts are required to build the pilot zone for statutory digital currency and the digital financial system. More options should be granted to sci-tech innovation enterprises in cross-border finance, and a pilot zone will be built for Fintech application scenarios. Beijing will set up an international commercial arbitration center and a financial court and improve its professional services. We will press ahead with the establishment of the trading platform for digital copyright, the International Film Co-production Service Center and the international trading platform for film, television and animation copyright, and optimize the approval procedure of commercial performances. We will carry out pilot programs of retail imports of drugs in cross-border e-commerce, create a list of Beijing as soon as possible and streamline the approval process of international biomedical cooperation. We will constantly improve the distribution of duty-free shops in Beijing. We will promote the institutions for China International Fair for Trade in Services, ZGC Forum and Financial Street Forum to make good use of the three platforms and enable them to promote the development of each other.
Cai Qi required targeted efforts in the development of the different areas of the pilot free trade zone. The sci-tech innovation area is mainly located at the Zhongguancun Science Park and the Zhongguancun Life Science Park. Beijing will implement major projects such as patent boxes and regulatory sandboxes and build an international information industry and digital trade port. We need to pursue decentralized clinical trial and introduce more innovations. The international business service area is located at several places. Chaoyang District should accelerate efforts to publicize the policies relating to the establishment of the Two Zones and attract projects. An international wealth management center and a national voluntary emission reduction carbon exchange center will be established in the Canal Business District, the city's municipal administrative center. Zhangjiawan Design Town will highlight its principal function of design and urban technology. Shunyi District has made progress in air services, industrial finance, cultural trade and so on. High-end industries are mainly located at Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area and Beijing Daxing International Airport. Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area will accelerate the application for building a comprehensive bonded zone in ETOWN to create an area under special customs regulation featuring sci-tech innovation. Daxing District will move faster to create an integrated regulation model in the port. Beijing will improve the infrastructure and public services in the pilot free trade zone and plan a bunch of major projects to implement the policies for pilot programs. All component areas will coordinate with the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector.
Cai Qi called for further investment and trade facilitation. Beijing should implement the pre-establishment national treatment regime with negative list for foreign investment, and create a negative list system for managing cross-border trade in services. We will launch pilot programs to facilitate revenue payment under capital account and integrated management of local and foreign currencies. We will create a comprehensive foreign exchange platform for cross-border e-commerce. Policies will be introduced to promote air cargo transport in Beijing and give support to the Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport in expanding their freedom of the air, including the fifth freedom of the air, to create new platforms for opening-up. Efforts are required to advance the development of the cross-regional collaborative innovation platform and the national technological innovation center in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to promote coordination between Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei in policies and collaborative opening-up.
Cai Qi stressed the need to improve policies in the fields of taxation, talent and land use. Funds and foundations promoting the development of industries must be coordinated to stimulate investment by various means. We support scientific and technological innovation and the import of major technical equipment, and encourage the return of relics from overseas and the development of the aircraft maintenance industry. We will introduce targeted policies to attract talent, create international talent communities and provide quality services at the talent service center. We will implement the policies for integrated land use and complete the implementation rules on land supply for industrial chains.
Cai Qi called for the establishment and improvement of working mechanisms. The leading group is responsible for overall organization, coordination, policy formulation and implementation of projects. Dedicated coordination teams are responsible for implementation of specific tasks. All departments concerned must work closely together to complete the tasks as scheduled with good quality. The Party secretaries and heads of all districts should take charge of project selection and the work to attract investment, expand the workforce and improve the working mechanisms. Training programs should be offered to cultivate talent and equip the officials with a global vision, pioneering spirit and sense of serving the people. Further efforts are required to publicize and explain relevant policies.
Chen Jining spoke positively of the achievements of governments at all levels and departments in development of the Two Zones by implementing the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and the requirements of the CPC municipal committee and the municipal government of Beijing. He required that we should draw on our experience and work harder to strengthen our weaknesses, aiming for high-standard and high-quality development and implementation. We should adhere to the holistic approach and the new development philosophy, better stimulate development through opening-up, adopt a global vision, and attract resources and factors such as enterprises, projects, talent, technologies and capital through high-standard opening-up. We will attach greater importance to learning from and introducing international management expertise, deepening the government reform, enhancing our development capacity and strengthening the internal driving force for transformation and upgrading. Beijing will promote institutional opening-up that covers rules, regulations, management and standards, improve its administration services and policies and remove obstacles in the implementation of the projects. We will change our mindset and introduce new ways to create a systematic, coordinated and efficient service mechanism. In view of the characteristics and major concerns of foreign investors and firms, we will improve the scope and process of services to address problems in administration and accelerate the establishment of a procedure-based service system and efficient and convenient life and production facilities. We will draw on other countries" experience to publicize the policies of Two Zones in a professional, targeted and effective manner. We will make full use of the resources for opening-up, better coordinate with leading firms, and use and enlarge the spillover effect to improve the innovation environment and facilitate high-quality development.
Other municipal leaders attending the meeting included Du Feijin, Wei Xiaodong, Cui Shuqiang, Yin Yong, Zhang Jiaming, Sui Zhenjiang, Wang Hong, Yang Jinbai, Jin Wei and Yu Luming.
(Reporters: Qi Mengzhu, Fan Junsheng)
