Starting January 1, Beijing will offer a variety of free services to help overseas investors establish companies in the Chinese capital.

Contents of the free services:

The free service package launched by Beijing Foreign Investment Service Center (BFISC) covers a broad field including investment consultation, search for investment projects and business partners, handling of application procedures, registration with departments of industry and commerce, and dealing with investors' complaints.

Chen Gang, a local economic official, said that the upcoming one-stop service is aimed to optimize Beijing's investment climate and improve the city's administrative efficiency.

It used to be that foreign investors had to pay a charge of 50 to 150 yuan when they sought advice from the BFISC on the establishment of foreign invested companies, said Sun Changtai, head of the BFISC.

If foreign investors prefer, they may go on their own to the proper departments of the Beijing Municipal Government to complete business application and approval procedures, Sun added.

All complaints logged by investors against either the service sector or government departments will be strictly handled in line with relevant rules, Sun said.

According to Chen, Beijing approved some 1,033 foreign-invested companies between January and November, introducing foreign investment of US$3.54 billion, up 63.2 percent over the same period of last year.

Beijing Foreign Investment Service Center

Beijing Investment Service Center is the organization authorized by the Beijing Municipal Government to serve investors of both Chinese and foreign business. It is the intermediary organization to provide investors consulting service on the policy, law, regulation and application procedures regarding the investment and trade and other economic activities. It is the standing working body of the Beijing Foreign Investment Enterprises Association and the governing body of the foreign-funded enterprises in Beijing.

Since its founding, the center has received several thousand investor groups from all over the world and has provided consulting service to around 10,000 investors from both home and abroad. It has handled the applying for the establishment of representative offices in Beijing for more than 600 foreign enterprises. It has also fulfilled application procedures for the establishment of more than 400 foreign-funded enterprises. Besides, the center also provided other services including enterprise establishing and personnel management for renowned multinational companies of the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand and Malaysia and other countries.

(People's Daily December 26, 2001)