Guiyang officials discuss stabilizing foreign investment, trade

A government meeting on stabilizing foreign investment and trade was held in Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province, on Sept 28. 

Liu Lisha, director of Guiyang's municipal bureau of commerce, said that Guiyang's foreign investment and trade have gradually recovered from the severe impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Up to now, Guiyang has realized foreign trade value of $3.67 billion – year-on-year growth of 50.5 percent, ranking first in Guizhou province for value and first in China for growth rate. The actual utilization of foreign capital reached $1.26 billion, up 13.01 percent year-on-year. 

Guiyang has also established 41 new foreign-invested enterprises this year, ranking first in the province. 

Going forward, Liu said that the bureau would strengthen services for enterprises, focus on new forms of business, enhance financial support, improve the investment mechanism and help attract foreign investment, to improve the development of the city's foreign investment and trade prospects.

Ran Bin, vice-mayor of Guiyang, recognized achievements in the city's foreign investment and trade and pointed out existing deficiencies in the unbalanced development of imports and exports as well as the actual use of foreign capital.

To address these issues, relevant departments should strengthen enterprise services, increase visits and surveys and promptly solve enterprises' problems, Ran said.

It is necessary to increase policy support for investment promotion and optimize and improve the service level to attract foreign-funded enterprises, cross-border e-commerce companies and joint ventures with investment from beyond Guiyang. The city must also seize new opportunities and develop novel business formats – including cross-border e-commerce and trade in services, Ran stressed.

He added that Guiyang's commerce bureau should strengthen research on foreign investment and trade policies and formulate foreign trade policies with comparative advantages to attract more industrial projects to the city.

Che Weiwei contributed to this story.