State Councilor Xiao Jie, in an article recently published in People’s Daily, wrote that further advancements in streamlining administration and delegating powers are an urgent need, according to a decision to step up institutional reforms that came out of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China.

The reform should be continuously pushed forward, in a bid to promote the efficiency and equity of resource allocation and substantially reduce the cost of institutional transactions, which will massively improve the business environment with a robust institutional guarantee in place, wrote Xiao.

Over the past five years, a total of 44 percent of administrative approval items were rendered invalid, as were 90 percent of enterprise investment projects approved by the central government, and 80 percent of governmental pricing items, marking a fundamental change in China’s commercial system.

Streamlining administration and delegating powers not only functions as an in-depth reform, but also presupposes the realization of a service-oriented government, wrote Xiao.

This project is also a major strategy, which ushers in considerable decreases in the cost of institutional transactions, expansion in civil investments, and a lower market entry threshold for foreign capital. It will optimize the business environment and beef up China’s international competitiveness to a great extent, he said.

In addition, this reform comes with less governmental intervention in market resource distribution and activities, which will grant the market more autonomy and encourage an enormous wave of entrepreneurship and innovation.

The service industry, Xiao added, should further open up with fewer inter-industry demarcations as well as more freedom for foreign capital, and Internet Plus governmental services should be stepped up to bring convenience to the public.