Beijing offers private firms more access to national projects and research
Move part of efforts to reverse prolonged downturn in business sentiment among private enterprises
Beijing has sent new olive branches to private enterprises, offering them improved access to state research facilities and national projects, as the world’s second-largest economy seeks more private investment to shore up its economic growth and stabilise the job market.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) pledged at a meeting in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Thursday to support private firms with strong innovation capabilities to take the lead in carrying out major national scientific and technological projects, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.
We will ... guide qualified private enterprises to undertake high-risk, high-value technological research
Beijing will also expand private enterprises’ access to state research facilities and facilitate the transfer of talent from universities and research institutes to such firms, it added.
“We will support the diversification of basic research topics and guide qualified private enterprises to undertake high-risk, high-value technological research,” NDRC vice-chairman Zheng Bei was quoted as saying.
The pledge by the NDRC, China’s top economic planner, is another government move to shore up business confidence in the private sector, which plays vital roles in powering the economy and job creation.
But during a meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in June, more than 30 lawmakers highlighted factors that significantly hinder the private economy’s development, such as barriers to market access.
