Nation eases path for multinationals

A bird's-eye view of Beijing's Central Business District, where many global conglomerates have their headquarters. [Photo by Xiao Yang/for China Daily]

Initiatives launched

French cosmetics giant L'Oreal, whose China headquarters is located in Shanghai, cited a number of initiatives launched by the local government that helped advance the company's development in the country and achieve 27 percent year-on-year growth last year.

Fabrice Megarbane, president of L'Oreal North Asia Zone and CEO of L'Oreal China, said, for example, that Shanghai's Pudong New Area launched a pilot policy for imports of non-special-use cosmetics.

"L'Oreal acquired the first pilot enterprise user account and product registration certificate, reducing approval time from three months to five working days," he said.

Megarbane added that with the policy accelerating sales operations and new product launches, L'Oreal is now introducing more than one new product in China every day on average.

Cytiva, formerly known as GE Healthcare Life Sciences, also stands to enjoy streamlined government services to help this newly-established spinoff better navigate its way in China.

Yu Lihua, Cytiva's general manager in China, said she originally expected a complicated process to register as a stand-alone company, involving the completion of commercial operating, licensing and tax registration procedures.

"However, we are extremely impressed by the transparency and efficiency of the administration of Lingang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The local government officials truly position themselves as the enablers of companies," Yu said.

In just 24 hours, Cytiva completed procedures to apply for a business license for continuous operation. Local authorities also organized one-on-one follow-up roundtable sessions for policy consultations.

China's Foreign Investment Law has helped foreign-funded enterprises buck the downward trend to attract foreign capital during challenging times.

Zang Tiewei, a spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said that since the law took effect on Jan 1 last year, foreign investment to China had risen by 4.5 percent year-on-year in dollar terms, reaching a record high.

The nation had become the largest recipient of foreign capital worldwide, and 51,000 new foreign-funded companies were established in China last year, Zang said.