Li Qiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council

On August 19, Premier Li Qiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, where they reviewed and adopted "Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Service Trade through High-Level Opening Up" and "Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition)". They also reviewed and adopted the "Draft Regulations on the Filing and Examination of Laws and Regulations" and the "Draft Urban Public Transportation Regulations", studied policy measures to promote the high-quality development of specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises, and decided to approve five nuclear power projects, including the Jiangsu Xuwu Phase I project.

The meeting pointed out that accelerating the development of service trade is a necessary requirement for expanding high-level opening up and cultivating new momentum for foreign trade development. It is necessary to improve the level of liberalization and facilitation of service trade, fully implement the negative list for cross-border service trade, promote pilot demonstration projects for expanding opening up in the service sector, and promote the cross-border flow of resources such as talent, capital, technological achievements, and data. It is also necessary to promote innovative development in key areas of service trade, promote the integration of service trade and goods trade, support the international development of professional services such as finance, consulting, design, and certification and accreditation, and create new growth points for service trade.

The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to further relax foreign investment access, comprehensively cancel foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and accelerate the opening up of sectors such as telecommunications, education, and healthcare. It is necessary to adapt to the new situation and optimize policies to attract foreign investment, respond promptly to the reasonable demands of foreign investors, and introduce more pragmatic measures in optimizing the business environment and improving service guarantees.

The meeting reviewed and adopted the "Draft Regulations on the Filing and Examination of Laws and Regulations", requiring adherence to the principle of "filing all necessary documents, examining all filed documents, and correcting all errors". It emphasized focusing on issues such as inconsistencies between local and departmental legislation and higher-level laws, impacts on the construction of a unified national market, and damage to the business environment, to ensure high-quality and efficient filing and examination work. The meeting also reviewed and adopted the "Draft Urban Public Transportation Regulations", requiring that, in conjunction with the promulgation and implementation of the regulations, the quality, efficiency, and safety management level of urban public transportation services be effectively improved.

The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to vigorously cultivate and develop specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthen policy coordination in finance, taxation, finance, technology, industry, and talent, and provide full-chain support for enterprise innovation and development. It is necessary to continuously optimize the development environment, improve mechanisms for tiered cultivation, resource guarantees, and public services, and help enterprises solve practical difficulties. It is necessary to use the implementation of large-scale equipment upgrades as an opportunity to promote the digital, intelligent, and green transformation of specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises, and continuously improve their core competitiveness.

The meeting emphasized that safety is the lifeline of nuclear power development. It is necessary to continuously improve nuclear power safety technology and risk prevention capabilities, strengthen safety supervision across the entire chain and in all areas, ensure foolproof nuclear power safety, and promote the long-term and healthy development of the industry.

The meeting also discussed other matters.