The Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) announced plans Sunday to improve the policy environment for foreign investors, state media reported. The ministry said in a report that while foreign-invested companies in China comprise only 3% of firms, they produce 29.7% of total industrial output, contribute 21% of government tax receipts and account for over half of the value of both exports and imports. While the report argues that the decrease in foreign direct investment (FDI) in China is due to external factors, MofCom nevertheless plans to make the process easier by standardizing administration fees and inspection regulations, and pushing approval authority down to lower levels of government. It also plans to improve online examination and approval systems. The plan calls for channeling FDI into higher value-added sectors and into central and western provinces, and to help foreign investors "stabilize their production scale so as to avoid job cuts."
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