NDRC: China to introduce more measures to attract foreign investment

"National treatment will be implemented before and after the entry of foreign companies," Ning Jizhe, deputy chief of National Development and Reform Commission said on Wednesday.

Ning said NDRC is working with relevant departments and localities to abolish the separate entry restrictions on foreign investment in areas outside the negative list, and to ensure that the domestic and foreign standards for market access are consistent.

China promotes the fair treatment of foreign-funded enterprises in terms of government procurement, standard setting and industrial policing. In this sense, this is to apply the national treatment on foreign companies after their entry.

Despite the global environment of the slow recovery of cross-border investment, China's use of foreign capital has reached a record high. The actual use of foreign direct investment in the year reached 135 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 3 percent from last year. The newly established foreign-invested enterprises have grown by nearly 70 percent.

China unveiled a shortened negative list for foreign investment in June last year, cutting the number of items from 63 to 48, and removing access restrictions in various sectors. The country will further reduce the negative list of foreign investment access and continue to develop Pilot Free Trade Zones.

China's Draft Foreign Investment Law (FIL) is submitted for review at the second annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) started Tuesday. FIL is expected to be passed this year which includes improvement of the relevant provisions of the pre-entry national treatment plus negative list management system.

NDRC will also allow more foreign-owned enterprises to operate in fields like agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and service industries.