China Youth Daily:

The development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has always been a great concern. Especially over the past few years, specialized enterprises that use sophisticated technologies to produce new and unique products have gained great popularity in the market. What is the current development of those enterprises? What creative measures will be taken to support their development? Thank you. 

Jin Zhuanglong:

Thank you for your questions. I would first like to clarify that China has attached great importance to SMEs. The office of the leading group for promoting the development of SMEs under the State Council has been established in our ministry. We have also set up a department invested with the duty to promote the development of SMEs. Therefore, I will answer your questions.

As we all know, SMEs are closely connected with everybody life. As most SMEs are private enterprises, they have been a vital force in improving people's livelihoods and promote the development of the economy. The following industry-specific statistics will give a full picture of the key role played by SMEs in our country: SMEs contribute 50% of the total tax revenue, over 60% of the total GDP, over 70% of the technological innovation, over 80% of the urban and rural employment, and over 90% of the total number of enterprises. We have thoroughly implemented guiding principles of important speeches made by General Secretary Xi Jinping on promoting the development of SMEs and carried out decisions and deployments made by the CPC Central Committee. We have also collaborated with relevant departments and local governments to launch a slew of preferential policies under the leadership of the office of the leading group for promoting the development of SMEs under the State Council.

It's known to all that, the pandemic has posed numerous challenges to many SMEs last year. The country has rolled out various kinds of measures to ease their burdens. In 2022, China's tax refunds, tax and fee cuts, and tax and fee deferrals for small and micro-market entities topped 1.7 trillion yuan. China has also carried out a series of campaigns and fostered 274 national demonstration platforms of public services, especially for SMEs. China has launched a special campaign on the outstanding payments owed to SMEs, helping them maintain steady growth, optimize structures, and strengthen capacities to ensure their sound and robust development. In 2022, an average of 23,800 enterprises were established per day, the number of SMEs exceeded 520 million, and the operating revenue of small- and medium-sized industrial enterprises above designated size exceeded 80 trillion yuan. Notably, a group of specialized and sophisticated enterprises has become highlights in the development of SMEs. The National Conference on Development of Specialized and Sophisticated SMEs was successfully convened last year. General Secretary Xi Jinping attached great significance to the event and sent a congratulatory letter. China has fostered over 70,000 specialized and sophisticated SMEs, with 8,997 classified as "little giants." As for the capital market, the number of specialized and sophisticated SMEs accounted for 59% of the total number of newly listed enterprises last year. An accumulated number of over 1,300 specialized and sophisticated SMEs were listed on A-share, accounting for 27% of the total number of firms listed on the A-share market. Those enterprises have been long-established players in industrial sectors that play a crucial role. They demonstrate their professionalization, refinement, specialization, and innovation. As we all talk about "specialized and sophisticated SMEs," what does this term mean? To sum up, here are four key characteristics: professionalization, refinement, specialization, and innovation.

For the next step, we will deepen our understanding of the guiding principles of the important instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping on promoting the development of SMEs. We will implement decisions and deployments made at the 20th CPC National Congress and work unswervingly both to consolidate and develop the public sector and to encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector. We will place equal emphasis on management and services. We should also provide support and ensure development simultaneously. We will launch more preferential policies to help enterprises, provide more services to help enterprises, optimize the business environment to revitalize enterprises and make innovations to underpin enterprises, making every effort to promote the high-quality development of SMEs. We will lay more focus on the following five aspects.

First, we will enhance the environment for development. Enhancing the environment for development can boil down to a law, a regulation, an opinion, and a plan. The law means we need to fully implement the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises . The regulation refers to the implementation of the Regulation on Ensuring Payments to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to protect the legitimate rights and interests of SMEs. The opinion means we need to thoroughly act upon the Guiding Opinions on the Promotion of the Healthy Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises . The plan means we need to implement the Plan for Promoting the Development of SMEs during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period (2021-25), ensure various preferential policies for enterprises deliver, and ease difficulties for SMEs.

Second, we will increase cultivation efforts. Development is still what really matters to all. We will strengthen the implementation of the gradient cultivation project for competitive enterprises and strive to have more than 80,000 specialized and sophisticated SMEs that produce new and unique products nationwide this year. We will strengthen policy guidance and resources coordination to cultivate about 100 distinctive industrial SME clusters. We will give play to the leading role of large enterprises and support enterprises of all sizes in pursuing development through closer collaboration. This year, we will continue to hold the National Conference on Development of Specialized and Sophisticated SMEs to build a platform for communication and cooperation between SMEs. All friends from the media are welcome to come.

Third, we will improve the service system. Services are a very important part, and the government needs to do more to serve SMEs. There are several aspects in this regard: first, we plan to issue opinions on further improving the service system for SMEs this year; second, we will further improve the public service systems for SMEs at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels; third, we will continue to carry out the SMEs Service Month activities nationwide to give full play to the role of public service agencies for SMEs, public services demonstration platforms for SMEs, and business startups and innovation demonstration hubs for micro and small enterprises so that more high-quality services can be provided to SMEs directly.

Fourth, we will promote industry-finance cooperation. Financial institutions now attach great importance to financial support for MSMEs. We will guide financial institutions to consistently increase their financing support for MSMEs. We will leverage the role of the capital market to support specialized and sophisticated enterprises in accelerating their listings. We will give play to the guiding role of the National Fund for SMEs Development to stimulate more investment from nongovernmental capital.

We will further improve the overseas service system for SMEs, ensure the success of the SMEs Expo, and build an international cooperation platform to help SMEs make good use of global resources and achieve win-win cooperation. Thank you.