A recent executive meeting of the State Council discussed the improvement of overseas comprehensive service systems. The meeting emphasized the need to provide robust support for Chinese enterprises participating in international cooperation and competition by further enhancing overseas comprehensive service systems.
Latest data show that Chinese enterprises continue to rank among the top global investors. In 2024, China’s outward foreign direct investment accounted for 11.9% of the global share, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, maintaining its position among the world’s top three for 13 consecutive years. The Central Economic Work Conference held late last year called for “improving overseas comprehensive service systems” as part of efforts to expand high-level opening-up.
According to the Development Research Center of the State Council, amid increasing instability and uncertainties in global cross-border investment, China, as a major outward investor with continuously growing investment scale, needs to strengthen its overseas comprehensive service capabilities. This will help Chinese enterprises deeply participate in global division of labor and cooperation, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests overseas, better balance development and security, and maintain the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chains.
The meeting proposed enhancing collaborative coordination, integrating service resources in legal, financial, and logistics sectors, enriching service offerings, and building service platforms. It also called for supporting qualified regions to establish comprehensive service hubs for global enterprises, promoting the setup of overseas comprehensive service stations in key countries, enhancing the service functions of business associations, and fostering a group of professional service institutions with strong cross-border capabilities.
Currently, regions such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Zhejiang have actively explored comprehensive services for enterprises going global, and some domestic professional service institutions are growing. However, there remains a gap compared to the increasing demands of global enterprises. The State Council executive meeting has outlined directions for fostering professional institutions with strong cross-border capabilities, combining policy guidance with market mechanisms. This supports local platforms in facilitating supply-demand matching, provides professional service institutions with platforms to promote their services, enables global enterprises to identify where to seek help, and allows business associations and professional service institutions to develop and grow while serving enterprises, forming a sustainable virtuous cycle.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
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