Beijing Plans to Open Services Industry to Foreign Investment
On May 21, the State Council issued its Approval of Beijing Municipality Comprehensive Opening Up Pilot Program in the Service Industry. The program, which will run for three years, entails further opening of Beijing's service industry to foreign investment, with the aim of accumulating sufficient replicable experience to support subsequent expansion of reforms nationwide.
The program outlines six key service areas that Beijing will focus on for further reforming and opening, including:
- science and technology
- Internet and information services
- culture and education
- business and travel
- financial services
- health and medical services
For science and technology services, the program requires Beijing to simplify the formalities for foreign exchange settlement to facilitate enterprise investment and trade, as well as lower market access barriers to foreign investments in technical services.
In the internet and information service industry, the program promotes international capital cooperation; encouraging foreign investment into emerging industries such as software and information services and integrated circuit design services; and facilitating innovation in cloud computing, Internet of Things, mobile internet, and next-generation internet.
A catalogue of restricted areas for investment and detailed opening measures for the six key areas is attached in the document. The program also lays out supporting measures to facilitate the implementation by improving the credit environment, market supervision, human resources, finance assurance and customs efficiency.
According to official statistics, the services industry accounted for 77.9 percent of Beijing's 2014 gross domestic product of 2.13 trillion RMB ($340 billion).
