Premier Li Keqiang stressed the role of administrative reform — streamlining administration and cutting taxes and administrative fees — in gaining global competitiveness at recent State Council executive meetings.

It should be noted that many developed or even developing countries have put great efforts into optimizing their business environment, including simplifying the approval procedure for enterprises and measures to cut taxes.

Under such a global context, administrative reform should be regarded as a priority to achieve the transformation and upgrade of the Chinese economy.

At the April 26 executive meeting, it was decided to take another step in loosening the grip on the market and push forward business registration system reform. This will be done by promoting the integration of separate business certifications and licenses and replacing the pre-approval registration with post-setup approvals. Also, institutional transaction costs for market entities will continue to be lowered to stimulate the market’s vitality.

The Premier pointed out the progress of administrative reform and cutting taxes should be measured in the global environment. China will open its door wider and wider to not only introduce foreign capital, technologies and advanced experience, but also grasp the trend of global competition, the Premier said.

According to a report released by the World Bank, China’s business environment ranking for 2016 moved up 18 positions from 2013, and its rating for ease of doing business rose 31 positions in the same period. However, ranking at an average level among developing countries, there is still a lot of room for improvement in China’s business environment.

Accelerating the construction of high-speed telecom networks with lower charges is another effort urged by Premier Li to enhance the global competence of Chinese enterprises.

Premier Li urged government departments and enterprises to develop a global vision in further opening up and implementing administrative reform.