CCTV News: On February 20, the State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the State Council’s policies.

At the press conference, a reporter asked, last year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the 2024 edition of the "Special Management Measures for Foreign Investment Access". What work measures will be taken in 2025 to expand high-level opening up and attract foreign investment more vigorously?

The head of the Department of Utilization of Foreign Investment and Overseas Investment of the National Development and Reform Commission, China Central Committee responded that opening up to the outside world is our basic national policy. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that we must adhere to the use of opening up to promote reform, steadily expand institutional opening up, and deepen the reform of the system and mechanism for promoting foreign investment. In 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission will focus on implementing the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and take effective measures to promote the construction of a new open economy system with a higher level, and continue to support foreign-invested enterprises to invest in China and deepen their cultivation in China. Specifically, the National Development and Reform Commission will mainly carry out the following four aspects of work:

First, systematically plan to steadily expand institutional opening up. We will work with relevant departments to actively connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules in seven areas including property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, labor protection, government procurement, e-commerce, and finance to achieve the compatibility of rules, regulations, management, and standards; promote the expansion of independent opening up in four markets including commodity markets, service markets, capital markets, and labor markets, and expand unilateral opening to least developed countries. In addition, we will promote the deepening of the reform of the system and mechanism for promoting foreign investment, and comprehensively systematically improve foreign investment management and promotion work.

Secondly, formulate and introduce specific support policies and measures to stabilize foreign investment. We adhere to the problem-oriented approach and plan to work with relevant parties to revise and expand the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment" and study and formulate policies to encourage domestic reinvestment of foreign-invested enterprises. These key tasks have also been written into the "Action Plan" released today.

Third, promote development zones to better play the role of investment-attracting platforms. Development zones have always been a frontier for expanding opening up to the outside world and an important platform for investment promotion. We will combine the revision of the "Catalogue of Review Announcements of China Development Zones (2018 Edition)" on the ongoing process, adhere to the main focus of manufacturing and productive services, improve the land management of development zones, and guide the high-quality development of development zones with per mu benefits, agglomeration and concentration, incremental growth rate, pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the guidance, so as to better play the important role of development zones in attracting foreign investment and smoothing domestic and international dual circulation.

Finally, strengthen foreign investment services. We are working with relevant departments to organize the compilation of the "Hundred Questions and Answers for Foreign Investment in China", hoping to help overseas investors better understand China's foreign investment environment and better serve the investment implementation, production and operation of foreign enterprises and the work and life of foreign personnel in China. To provide good service to the implementation of landmark major foreign-invested projects, the first eight batches of 66 landmark major foreign-invested projects have completed investment of approximately US$94 billion, of which 33 projects have been fully or partially put into production, achieving good social and economic benefits. This year, we will continue to strengthen project factor guarantees, promote the accelerated implementation of the first eight batches of projects, and release the ninth batch of projects in a timely manner. Continue to carry out special actions to serve foreign-invested enterprises, visit foreign-invested enterprises "one-on-one" to timely understand and coordinate the resolution of difficulties and problems encountered by enterprises.