Economic Daily: 

The results of the 2023 Annual Survey on Business Environment for 100,000 Private Enterprises released by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce show that Hebei is one of the top five provinces in the country with the most evident progress. My question is, in terms of optimizing the business environment, what specific measures has Hebei province implemented? What are the new priorities for this year? Thank you.

Wang Zhengpu:

Thank you for your question. This question will be answered by Zhao Dachun, vice governor of Hebei province.

Zhao Dachun:

Thank you for your interest and attention regarding the business environment in Hebei. Since the beginning of this year, our efforts to optimize the business environment have been ongoing, focusing on the general objective of creating a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, governed by the rule of law, and internationalized. We have continuously improved efficiency, pursued reforms, and strengthened regulation.

First, we aim to make public services more convenient. We have set the goal of "four conveniences": simplifying procedures, providing smart services, ensuring immediate processing, and delivering satisfactory outcomes. All approval procedures related to enterprises and people's livelihoods have been centralized at local government service halls. Additionally, we have launched a province-wide integrated online service platform to facilitate "single-window" services and "online access for all." We have integrated all provincial hotlines into a single, unified number, "12345." This makes it convenient for the public to contact us and enables us to proactively detect problems through data analysis and promptly address them. In addition, we can provide real-time supervision and objective evaluation of departmental work, ensuring satisfactory outcomes. We have also innovatively created the "Policy Portal for Enterprise and People's Benefit," transforming the approach from "people seeking policies" to "policies reaching people." This platform ensures that policies are promptly and comprehensively enjoyed. Furthermore, governments at all levels have regularly conducted on-site work to promptly address practical issues. Overall, business confidence in Hebei has generally increased, with an average net increase of over 700 companies per day last year.

Second, we strive to ensure fairer market competition. We treat all entities equally. On the one hand, we have implemented "double-blind" reforms in bidding and tendering processes to achieve full online processing, blind selection of evaluation experts, blind evaluation without the bidders' information, and "decentralized" evaluation with physical isolation, eliminating any possibility of opaque operations. On the other hand, we have thoroughly reviewed and cleared standards and subsidies linked to the nature of enterprises, decisively dismantling "hidden barriers" and delegating more opportunities to the market and enterprises. Since June of last year, the percentage of private enterprises winning bids by volume has increased from 39% to 56%, and the percentage of private enterprises winning bids by number has risen from 73% to 84%. The total revenue and assets of the "Top 100 Private Enterprises in Hebei Province in 2023" increased by 16.43% and 27.28% year on year, respectively.

Third, we are enhancing integrity building. We are urging governments at all levels to protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises in accordance with the law, ensuring minimal interference and prompt responses to their needs. We also encourage enterprises to uphold honesty, trustworthiness, and contract compliance. In the National Urban Credit Monitoring Rankings released in February of this year, Shijiazhuang city in Hebei ranked 10th out of 36 cities, including provincial capitals and those at and above the sub-provincial level. Notably, the number of county- and prefecture-level cities that entered the top 20 in their respective categories ranked first and second among all provinces nationwide. This progress is indeed remarkable.

Optimizing the business environment is an ongoing, perpetual process. This year, we will vigorously promote one-stop government services to further enhance the sense of accomplishment for enterprises. We will also continue to improve the level of factor support, ensuring smoother financing channels, more flexible land supply methods, and lower logistics costs, especially for new elements such as computing power and data. Additionally, we will carry out actions to enhance the quality of law enforcement, providing both standards and warmth in enforcement and effectively implementing the rule of law to safeguard the interests of business entities. Thank you!