China is becoming increasingly attractive to investment thanks to its significant improvement in business environment in recent years, foreign economic experts and scholars told People’s Daily.

China joined the world’s top 10 most improved economies for ease of doing business for the second year in a row, according to the World Bank's annual doing business report released on Oct. 24.

The country ranked 31st among 190 economies globally on the ease of doing business rankings, a significant improvement compared with the 46th place in last year’s rankings, the report said.

China has achieved great success in improving business environment, leaping from the 78th place two years ago to the 31st place, said Marcin Piatkowski, a senior economist at the World Bank, attributing the remarkable achievement to the Chinese government’s comprehensive business environment reform.

Doing Business 2020, a World Bank flagship publication, documented regulatory reforms implemented globally during the 12 months to May 1, 2019. Overall 115 economies around the world implemented 294 business regulatory reforms making it easier to do business, the report showed.

China has shown a notable improvement in eight areas including starting a business and dealing with construction permits, the report said. For example, the country streamlined the process of dealing with construction permits and getting electricity, and reducing the time for administrative approval.

China has made encouraging progress in improving its business environment. In terms of nurturing new businesses, it ranks higher, said Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University.

As the report points out, the Chinese government has achieved concrete results in supporting start-ups, which indicates the country's focus on technological innovation.

China unveiled its first regulation on improving business environment on recently. Drawing on past experience and aligning with advanced international levels, the regulation codifies the country’s reform measures that have been proven workable, obtained people’s satisfaction and supported by the market entities. It provides an institutional guarantee to improve business environment.

The World Bank welcomes China’s measures to further improve business environment, said Marcin. Beijing and Shanghai have implemented a slew of ground-breaking reform measures, and their successful experiences are expected to be applied in other cities in the country, he pointed out.

China still has potential to improve its business environment indicators such as credit and cross-border trade, Marcin noted, adding that the improvement in business environment will help boost the high-quality development of the country’s economy.

Wang Jiangyu, associate professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore, hailed China’s regulation on improving business environment as a far-reaching reform measure. It will legally guarantee entrepreneurship and transactions in the country and promote the transformation of the government's role, Wang added.

At present, some international institutions have lowered their expectations on the growth of the world economy amid rising protectionism.

China, as one of the major engines driving world economic growth, will boost its own growth and carry positive implications for global economic development through optimizing its business environment.

The World Bank’s cross-border indicators showed that China is striving to reduce the cost of importing goods, demonstrating its resolve to expand opening-up, Marcin pointed out.

Katsuyuki Hasegawa, chief economist at Mizuho Research Institute Ltd., said China is translating challenges into opportunities through continuous efforts to promote structural reform.

The country has taken measures to improve business environment, including relaxing regulations for foreign enterprisers, opening its market to the world and deepening structural reform, Katsuyuki noted, adding that China’s drive for greater openness is of great significance to the stability and development of the world economy.

Kiyoshi Fushitani, senior managing executive officer of Japan’s ORIX Corporation, shared some observations about improvement in China’s business environment as the company's businesses entered China since the 1980s.

Kiyoshi noted that he really felt the Chinese government’s emphasis on business environment, from release of relevant laws and regulations to vigorous efforts of governments at all levels.

An enabling business environment is a beneficial to both Chinese and foreign enterprises, and will create a more open market environment and provide opportunities for more foreign companies to develop in China, he added.

“China has never stopped efforts to expand opening-up, and we are impressed by its firm resolve to further open its market to the world”, Kiyoshi exclaimed.