Excerpts from State Council policy briefing on Sept. 15

The State Council held a policy briefing on Sept 15, and invited Ma Jiantang, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Governance, and Vice-Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Huang Rong to elaborate on the third-party evaluation of measures to promote private investment and implementation of mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

Progress in mass entrepreneurship and innovation

According to Huang, the evaluation conducted by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce visited 17 first demonstration bases for mass entrepreneurship and innovation and 95 enterprises, interviewed 328 managers and makers, and collected 14,349 questionnaires.

The results showed that the policies to support mass entrepreneurship and innovation have been fully implemented with active participation from all walks of life.

Mass entrepreneurship and innovation has become a powerhouse to drive economic growth and unleash public wisdom.

Many respondents said that entrepreneurship is a social trend; 79.5 percent of respondents said they were somewhat involved in the process, and most of them were 30 to 39 years old.

National demonstration bases for mass entrepreneurship and innovation were the key areas in the evaluation, which showed that the bases had made solid steps in system innovation and integration of regional resources.

This year, the State Council approved 93 more national demonstration bases and will hold a seminar on mass entrepreneurship and innovation in Shanghai.

These measures will promote the healthy development of demonstration bases across the nation.

The evaluation also showed that mass entrepreneurship and innovation has effectively boosted the economy, as 84.7 percent of respondents said the policy had increased market vitality.

Meanwhile, 80.3 percent said that mass entrepreneurship and innovation had expanded channels for people to move upward, a policy that can ensure equality and increase social inclusiveness.

Third-party evaluation on private investment

Ma Jiantang, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Governance, introduced the third-party evaluation on private investment and its support policies.

He said the deceleration of private investment in the last two years is mainly due to overcapacity in some industries, especially in traditional heavy industries, and the lack of innovation in private enterprises.

The government has issued many policies to enhance the business environment and streamline administration to promote private investment.

Since the value-added tax reform was rolled out nationwide, more than 570 billion yuan was cut for enterprises last year, and the government plans to reduce 1 trillion yuan this year, he said.

Meanwhile, legislation on private investment was also strengthened, laying a solid foundation to protect the property rights of private enterprises.

He also said that during the evaluation, they found that restrictions to market access have been reduced, especially in some fundamental industries, such as electricity, crude oil and gas, railway, civil aviation and the military.

He suggested that government policies should be more precise and practical, as the evaluation team heard voices that some policies were too general and difficult to put into practice.

In addition, he said it is also very important to publicize and explain the policies through government websites and other types of new media, as some entrepreneurs told him that they did not even know about those policies.