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Li Jing, reporter of Yangtze Business Daily Pentium News

As the link between domestic and international dual circulation, foreign trade and foreign investment are an indispensable force for stabilizing and promoting economic and social development. How to stabilize the basic situation of foreign trade and foreign investment in the second half of the year has attracted much attention.

The State Council Executive Meeting held on August 19 reviewed and approved the Opinions on Promoting High-quality Development of Trade in Services with High-level Opening-up and the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition). The meeting pointed out that accelerating the development of trade in services is an inevitable requirement for expanding high-level opening-up and cultivating new momentum for foreign trade development.

The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to improve the level of liberalization and facilitation of trade in services, fully implement the negative list of cross-border trade in services, promote the comprehensive pilot demonstration of expanding the opening up of the service industry, and promote the cross-border flow of resource elements such as talents, funds, technological achievements, and data. It is necessary to promote innovative development in key areas of trade in services, promote the integration of trade in services and trade in goods, support the international development of professional services such as finance, consulting, design, certification and accreditation, and create new growth points for trade in services.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in the first half of 2024, my country's service trade continued to grow rapidly, with total service imports and exports reaching 3598.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14%. Among them, exports were 1467.58 billion yuan, an increase of 10.7%; imports were 2130.45 billion yuan, an increase of 16.4%; and the service trade deficit was 662.87 billion yuan.

Experts pointed out that economic globalization has entered a new historical stage, and the importance of the service industry and service trade in the world economy and global trade is steadily increasing. Promoting high-quality development of service trade is of great practical significance for my country to promote economic structural adjustment, improve development quality and efficiency, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, and release new growth momentum.

The meeting also pointed out that it is necessary to further relax foreign investment access, completely cancel foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and speed up the opening of service sectors such as telecommunications, education, and medical care. It is necessary to adapt to the new situation and optimize policies to attract foreign investment, respond to the reasonable demands of foreign investors in a timely manner, and introduce more practical measures in optimizing the business environment and improving service guarantees.

The reporter of Yangtze Business Daily Pentium News noted that at the press conference held by the State Council Information Office last week, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said that it is necessary to revise and release the new version of the negative list for foreign investment access as soon as possible. The Ministry of Commerce will launch a series of measures to encourage foreign investment, continue to relax market access for foreign investment, achieve "zero" restrictions in the manufacturing sector nationwide, and promote orderly opening up in the fields of telecommunications, Internet, education, culture, and medical care.

Since the beginning of this year, the central government has made a series of arrangements to increase efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment, from the State Council executive meeting proposing multiple measures to stabilize foreign investment, to the foreign investment work symposium promoting implementation.

In March this year, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Special Administrative Measures for Cross-border Trade in Services (Negative List)" (2024 Edition), which is the first time that a negative list management system has been established for cross-border trade in services nationwide. At the same time, the "Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List)" was updated again after a lapse of 3 years, from the 2021 edition to the 2024 edition. With the continuous "slimming down" of the negative list for foreign investment access, it reflects China's firm determination to expand high-level opening up to the outside world, and also creates conditions for global investors to explore more business opportunities in China.

According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce a few days ago, from January to July this year, 31,654 new foreign-invested enterprises were established nationwide, an increase of 11.4% year-on-year, continuing the trend of rapid growth in newly established foreign-invested enterprises since 2023, indicating that foreign investors are still optimistic about the long-term investment prospects in China.