A total of 12,700 new market entities, including 3,300 enterprises and 9,200 self-employed businesses, were added in Zhanjiang during the first quarter of 2021, notching a year-on-year growth of 37.5 percent, 66.2 percent and 29.5 percent respectively.

The growth can be attributed to the government's innovative measures to improve the local business environment, officials said.

On March 29, the Guangdong provincial government issued a guideline to support Zhanjiang's goal of becoming a subcentral city, encouraging Zhanjiang to deepen reforms of its business environment.

The guideline points out Zhanjiang should adopt the standards of the World Bank to assess the business environment and create a market-oriented business atmosphere.

The local government has pledged to further improve the investment environment, streamline the approval procedures for enterprise operation and improve the efficiency of services.

The authorities will also strive to optimize the environment for employment and entrepreneurship, improve the social credit system and make the government service more transparent and accessible.

A worker inspects a large roll at the plant of local papermaker Guanhao High-Tech. ZHANG FENGFENG/FOR CHINA DAILY

In addition, the provincial government of Guangdong will delegate some of the business-related administration authority to the local government, according to the guideline.

Lin Junming, head of the Zhanjiang market supervision and administration bureau, said to sustain business environment improvements, the bureau will focus on offering "whole-life-cycle services" for enterprises that address challenging issues and further deepen the reform of the commercial system.

To reduce the startup cost for enterprises and explore an intelligent approval service for enterprise registration, the government bodies offer one-stop services both offline and online where most procedures such as obtaining a business license, invoice and bank account can be finished all at once.

Newly established enterprises in the city can receive their first set of corporate seals, including one official seal and one special invoice seal, for free.

By expanding the coverage of an all-in-one service, the local government will guide banks to provide full-process services for enterprises, which represents another added convenience.

To expand the service channels for enterprises from different locations, the local government has established offices in other cities in Guangdong where applicants can handle business registration procedures with Zhanjiang in their own locations.

The government has also initiated tailor-made "one enterprise, one policy" services for Zhanjiang's high-profile industrial projects by setting up special working teams to fully serve their operations.

By the end of March, the total number of market entities in the city reached 330,700, including 74,300 enterprises and 252,100 self-employed businesses, with a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent, 10.6 percent and 9.4 percent respectively.