Tide News under Zhejiang Daily:

We understand that private businesses are very concerned about market access issues. Does the Private Sector Promotion Law respond to their concerns? What specific measures will the NDRC take? Thank you.

Zheng Bei:

Thank you. That's an excellent question. During our research and communications with private enterprises, we also learned that they are very concerned about this issue. The Private Sector Promotion Law is guided throughout by principles of equal treatment, fair competition, equal protection and mutual development. These principles are fully reflected not only in the general provisions but also in the chapters covering fair competition, investment and financing promotion, technological innovation and legal liabilities. To implement the law's requirements, the NDRC will work with relevant departments to strengthen measures in three key areas: breaking down barriers, expanding the scope of development and optimizing services.

The first priority is eliminating barriers to market access. Recently, we worked with other departments to issue a shorter negative list for market access. We've launched rectification actions to remove market access barriers, which will continue regularly after six months of centralized rectification. We've also actively promoted the fair participation of private enterprises in bidding processes. From January to April this year, private enterprises increased their winning rate by 5 percentage points year on year. For projects under 100 million yuan, private enterprises won more than 80% of the contracts. Moving forward, if private enterprises encounter access barriers, they can report issues through the dedicated section on our commission's website for the unified national market initiative. We will work with relevant departments to promptly verify and address these concerns.

The second priority is expanding the scope of development. We are supporting private enterprises in implementing major national strategies and building security capacity in key areas. This includes participation in large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs. We're creating better long-term mechanisms for private enterprises to join major national projects. Several major projects in nuclear power and railways have already been launched. In some nuclear power projects, private capital now holds up to 20% of shares. In industrial equipment renewal and recycling, over 80% of funds support private enterprises. This year, we'll launch high-quality projects worth approximately 3 trillion yuan in key areas such as transportation, energy, water conservancy, new infrastructure and urban infrastructure. We will vigorously support private enterprises as they invest in emerging and future industries. We'll help them lead national initiatives to make breakthroughs in key technologies, ensure they have equal access to major national scientific research infrastructure and industrial technology platforms, and encourage their participation in developing innovative applications for new technologies and products. We hope private enterprises and entrepreneurs will seize these opportunities and have the courage to succeed.

The third priority is to optimize service guarantees. We will continue to strengthen project services, release information on major project encouraging private sector investment, and provide standardized, efficient and convenient services for project introductions, preliminary work and approval processes. This will help private enterprises better understand "where to invest and how to invest." We will continue to strengthen resource guarantees and improve mechanisms for ensuring private investment has access to land, environmental assessments and funding. We'll help private firms attract top talent through better incentives and services. We'll also support their participation in the emerging data market and standards development. Additionally, we'll enhance intellectual property protections, improve the social credit system, and develop a better credit repair system, helping private enterprises unleash their innovative potential. Thank you.