The devolution of the FDI review into local governments' only results in changes to the department responsible for conducting the review; there is no change in the standard of such review, an official with the Ministry of Commerce stressed recently.
Vice Director-General Sun Peng of the Foreign Investment Administration, MOFCOM said on July 30 in Beijing that the devolution would not result in changes to market access.
In March 2009 the Ministry of Commerce issued two documents giving more power to its local offices at the provincial level on approving foreign investment projects.
Sun highlighted the importance of both quality and scale of FDI in China. "The key standard is that whether it can play a positive role in China's economic growth," he said.
FDI into China has declined for nine consecutive months since October 2008 at an average rate of 16.6 percent per month. Over the first half of 2009, China's actual use of FDI decreased by 18 percent to 43 billion USD with that in June down by 6.8 percent.
Sun disclosed that MOFCOM was working with other government departments on the research of more policies supporting FDI coming into China.
He did not release any details or the timetable for the new policies. However, he stressed that the government should focus on the balance between regulation and service for FDI. On one hand, the government should regulate the FDI into China according to laws and rules. On the other hand, the government should offer services to facilitate the inflow and use of FDI.
Yao Jian, spokesperson for MOFCOM, pointed out the principles of the new policy recently. The new policy, said Yao, is supposed to promote the industrial structural upgrading, encourage more FDI flow into China’s less developed mid-west areas and improve the government service and investment environment.
By People's Daily Online
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