In 2023, the General Office of the Ningbo Municipal Government issued the Measures for Further Optimising the Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing Efforts to Attract and Utilise Foreign Investment (hereinafter referred to as the “26 Measures for Foreign Investment”). The document significantly increases policy incentives and subsidies for major foreign-funded projects in advanced manufacturing, key service sectors, and for investments by multinational corporations or Fortune 500 companies, as well as for foreign-funded R&D centres.

According to reports, to further promote high-level opening-up and inject new momentum into building a new pattern of an open economy, the “26 Measures for Foreign Investment” builds upon the previous “25 Measures for Investment Promotion.” 

Targeting the concerns of foreign-invested enterprises, it proposes a series of supportive policies and innovative initiatives that are stronger, more precise, and more comprehensive.

Specifically, the new “26 Measures” have three main features:

• Stronger support. Increased subsidies for major foreign-funded projects in advanced manufacturing, high-tech services, multinational company headquarters, and foreign-funded R&D centers; strengthened guarantees in areas such as land, energy, and industrial funds; and provided “case-by-case” support for landmark and leading projects.

• Broader openness. Fully implements the negative list for foreign investment access; actively replicates and promotes the achievements of pilot programs for expanding openness in the service sector; launches several expanded application scenarios in fields such as the internet, education, culture, and healthcare; supports foreign investment in urban infrastructure construction following laws and regulations; and increases openness in the port and shipping service sector.

• Better service mechanisms.
  Aiming to build a world-class business environment, the measures improve policies in areas of key concern to enterprises, such as cross-border investment and financing, entry and exit facilitation, and protection of lawful rights and interests; and establish long-term mechanisms for optimising services to foreign enterprises, such as regular foreign enterprise roundtables.

From January to September 2023, Ningbo approved 356 new foreign investment projects (including capital increases), up 19.5% year-on-year; contracted foreign investment reached USD 6.52 billion, up 49.1%; actual utilized foreign investment was USD 4.18 billion, up 14.8%—29 percentage points higher than the national average and 7.3 percentage points higher than the provincial average.

In manufacturing, actual utilised foreign investment reached USD 1.62 billion, up 128.7% year-on-year, accounting for 38.8% of the total, 19.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year. In high-tech industries, actual utilised foreign investment was USD 1.6 billion, up 52.8%, accounting for 38.2%—9.5 percentage points higher than last year.

As of now, Ningbo has attracted a total of USD 75.57 billion in foreign investment, accounting for about 20% of the provincial total. The city has 6,463 active foreign-invested enterprises, about 23% of the provincial total. These enterprises, while accounting for less than 2% of all companies in the city, contribute nearly one-third of Ningbo’s total import and export value, one-quarter of GDP, one-fifth of fiscal revenue, and one-sixth of urban employment.

Source: Yongpai

Reporters: Shanyuzifeng

Correspondent: Xu Jing

Editor: Ye Ke