China mulls measures to further boost foreign investment

China will take measures to boost foreign investment, with the manufacturing industry as a priority, the country’s top economic planner said Monday.

Meng Wei, the Spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission said at a news conference.

He said that China would facilitate the exchange of business personnel of foreign companies on the premise of strictly implementing epidemic prevention.

Meng said that alignment between the foreign trade and foreign companies and their upstream and downstream counterparts would also be strengthened

He said China was accelerating the revision of the industry catalog that encouraged foreign investment.

Meng said the focus would be to channel more investment into sectors such as advanced manufacturing, high-end technologies, and modern services in the central, western, and northeastern regions of the country.

The country will also organise promotion activities for industry investment and cooperation to set up an exchange platform for multinationals and localities.

“In spite of some factors brought about by the complex external environment denting the confidence of foreign investors, China’s foreign investment utilisation saw rapid expansion this year,’’ Meng said.

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded by 16.4 per cent year-on-year to 892.74 billion Yuan in the first eight months of the year, showed data from the Ministry of Commerce.

In dollar terms, the inflow went up by 20.2 per cent year-on-year to 138.41 billion dollars.