Business

Building an environment for business growth

BEIJING 20. Addressing the question of China's ability to stand the test of WTO accession, Long Yongtu, Chief Trade Representative and Vice-Minister, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, People's Republic of China, expressed optimism for the future and outlined the steps necessary to bring current plans into reality.

At the World Economic Forum's China Business Summit held here on April 18, Mr. Long advised "The government has to do something to create an enabling environment for business growth,'' and explained how despite facing serious challenges, the Chinese authorities have been pushed by the upcoming accession to the WTO and have already taken steps in this direction.

Mr. Long envisages three major elements necessary for the construction of this environment.

The first is to create a stable, transparent and predictable legal platform. He outlined how efforts have already been made to adapt PRC laws to WTO rules and commented that the national legislative body has basically completed this task. Problems, however, still remain in local government, departmental and administerial areas.

The second requirement for the government is to reduce the number of items subject to administrative approval, and to reform government procedures.

Finally, it is essential to streamline government bureaucracy and reduce the number of civil servants, Mr. Long moved on to speak of how among certain groups there remains doubt regarding China's ability to implement its WTO commitments. He attributed this to the fact that people believe the package is ''too good to be true'': that it contains too much and is too complicated. ''I came here to tell you that the Chinese government is dead serious about its commitments,'' he stated. . Mr. Long observed that the accession demonstrates how China will commit to the kind of rules-based, transparent and stable system that is essential for the international business community.

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