In 2022, Jiangsu has followed the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, conscientiously implemented the important decisions and plans made by the CPC Central Committee in continuing reform endeavors, continuously deepened reforms in important areas and key links such as macroeconomic governance, market entities and market systems, firmly promoted higher-standard opening up, actively facilitated the building of a new development paradigm, created an excellent business environment, and empowered high-quality development in Jiangsu.

Continue Reform Endeavors

In economic system reform, we have issued and implemented the Action Plan for Building a High-standard Market System in Jiangsu Province and the Implementation Decision on Implementing the Decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating the Building of a Unified National Market, actively applied for the national comprehensive pilot reform on market-based factor allocation, carried out the rural land for housing system reform and the pilot project of collectively-owned construction land for commercial uses entering the market in a deep-going manner, and achieved remarkable results in electricity supply market-based reform. The scale of all traded electricity in Jiangsu remained the first in the country for many years. In 2022, the number of users participating in market-based electricity transactions reached 102,000, ranking first in China. We have formulated policies and measures to promote the layout optimization and structural adjustment of the state-owned economy and nurture world-class enterprises in the new era. Efforts were made to actively and steadily carry out the pilot reform of mixed ownership of state-owned enterprises, and promote the establishment of Jiangsu investment fund of mixed ownership reform for state-owned enterprises.

In terms of the reform of administrative examination and approval system, efforts have been made to accelerate high-quality and efficient streamline of examination and approval procedures. 433 administrative power matters have been cancelled or delegated to lower levels, and 2,843 provincial administrative power matters have finished their dynamic adjustments. The proportion of projects that require approval before management was reduced to 2.07%, and the proportion of items that require provincial-level approval was reduced to 2.25%. The number of examination and approval items for engineering and construction projects has been reduced to 58, a reduction of 62%. There have been two rounds of actions to clean up and standardize the intermediary services of administrative examination and approval, and the intermediary services of provincial government departments have been streamlined to 46 items in 14 departments, a decrease of 76%. Multiple measures aimed to delegate power to lower levels have been implemented, achieving closed-loop management of full-chain examination and approval in development zones. A total of 303 provincial-level management items have been delegated to China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone and 14 provincial-level management items have been delegated to collaborative innovations zones of China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone in two batches. We have comprehensively promoted the reform of “separation of operating permits and business licenses”, and all 523 items set by the central government and 12 operation licenses related to enterprises in Jiangsu have been included in the list management system. Administrative law enforcement power has been delegated to counties. The “one matter finished at one go” reform has been accelerated. The “one matter” reform that includes the national basic list (13 items) and the expanded Jiangsu list (26 items in total) has achieved online and on-site service integration.

In terms of optimizing and upgrading government services, efforts have been made to promote the standardization of government service operation, and standardize the management of 265 public service items set at or above the provincial level that are only provided when applied for by the people. The “two lists” of public services and assistance and agency services have covered all administrative villages (communities) in Jiangsu. We took the lead in setting up a digital government standardization technical committee in China, and compiled 34 standards and specifications around cloud network foundation and data governance. Efforts have been made to promote the standardization of government service supply. We have formulated and issued the Regulations on the Handling of Complaints on Government Services, and 173 million pieces of comment data have been collected, and the rectification rate of problems revealed by complaints is 100%. Efforts were made to facilitate enterprises and the people in accessing public services. “Jiangsu Service Code” now supports 37,000 application and service scenarios as the user scans the code at any public service window in Jiangsu, and digital ID and licenses can be used safely and conveniently. We have reduced the burdens and fees in public resource trading, standardized and promoted the use of digital guarantee for bidding, and we have reduced the capital occupation of bidding enterprises by over RMB 60 billion in 2022. The fees for digital bidding documents have all been cancelled, as well as the fees for using digital trading systems and tools invested by the government. Active efforts have been made to encourage digital trading systems and tools established and operated by market entities to reduce their fees, most of which have dropped by over 50%.

In the development of digital government, we have carried out three key actions: cloud network upgrade, data sharing and governance transformation, and the framework of “four beams and eight pillars” of digital government has been basically built. The data sharing rate on demand reached 95.6%, and the public data legitimate disclosure rate stood at 91.7%. The main portal of “Jiangsu Service Office” has been rapidly integrated and promoted, and a provincial digital government service middle platform has been established and put into use. 15 “one matter” service items such as marriage and childbearing, flexible employment, opening restaurants, setting up transportation enterprises and registration of newborns have been put into trial online operation. Efforts have been made to promote the integration of government service systems. A total of 32 provincial departments have basically completed the “one department, one system” reform, and prefecture-level cities have initially established the “one city, one platform” framework. We have completed the pilot project of national online identity authentication service and digital ID and licenses for residents, and this has been applied in six scenarios, such as the withdrawal of housing provident fund for rental and the “one matter” service for newborns. The user system of the provincial integrated government service platform has been linked with the social security card “one card service” platform for residents, realizing “one login, mutual recognition”. The data integration governance has delivered remarkable results, and it has been launched on the provincial public data open platform. The supporting capacity of public service infrastructure has been continuously enhanced, forming a government service cloud system featuring “1 provincial main node + 13 municipal main nodes”, and the e-government service extranet has covered the province, cities, counties, townships and villages (five administrative levels).

Promote Higher-standard Opening up

In terms of open economy, foreign trade and investment delivered stable performance with improved quality. In 2022, imports and exports reached RMB 5.45 trillion in Jiangsu, an increase of 4.8%. The proportion of general trade, private enterprises and emerging markets in imports and exports continued to increase. Cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly, and the market procurement trade has increased by over 50%. Paid-in FDI in Jiangsu has reached USD 30.5 billion, ranking first in the country, and 3,303 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises have been registered. A total of 850 overseas investment projects have been approved, with an agreed investment from China reaching USD 9.67 billion. The newly signed foreign contracted projects amounted to USD 4.29 billion. The development of the BRI hub has been steadily advanced, with the imports and exports between Jiangsu and countries and regions along the BRI routes increasing by 13.1% year-on-year, and the proportion has increased to 27.4%. A total of 13 provincial-level public overseas warehouses have been established along the routes. Jiangsu has successfully held the ASEAN Plus Three Forum on Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Cooperation – Taihu East Asian Entrepreneurs Forum. The development of openness carriers has been intensified, and 98% of the 113 pilot tasks in the overall development plan of the Pilot Free Trade Zone have been implemented. Throughout the year, 83 institutional innovations have been made, of which seven were promoted nationwide. Six development zones in Jiangsu rank among the top 30 in the assessment of national economic development zones, and Suzhou Industrial Park has achieved seven consecutive championships.

In terms of international exchange, efforts have been made to effectively coordinate epidemic prevention and control and international exchanges and cooperation to serve the overall diplomatic landscape of the country. We have built platforms and carriers, and accelerated the development of Jiangsu as a leading province in opening up. We took the opportunities of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and other countries and the anniversary of friendship cities to hold supporting activities for the China-Greece Year of Culture and Tourism, Jiangsu-Japan Friendship Exchange Year, and the themed exchange event between China and the ROK. At present, 361 pairs of friendship cities have been established with 66 countries, ranking first in the country. Special activities such as the Fifth Forum on China and LAC: Dialogues between Civilizations, Jiangsu International Conference on Green Development, Jiangsu Traditional Chinese Medicine International Exchange Conference, Dialogue on Jiangsu Enterprises Entering ASEAN, and Jiangsu-Germany Dialogue have been held successfully, serving to build a new development paradigm. We participate in BRI cooperation with high-quality efforts and held the Jiangsu International Friendship Cities Week for BRI Cooperation. The Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone project in Cambodia was once again written into the China-Cambodia Joint Communique. Efforts have been made to deepen the integration and development of Jiangsu, Hong Kong and Macao, and the 12th Jiangsu-Macao Portuguese-speaking Countries Business Summit and the Jiangsu-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Development Forum and other brand activities have been held. We have built a Jiangsu-Hong Kong-Macao youth innovation and entrepreneurship base, and implemented the internship plan for the first group of Macao university students coming to Jiangsu. Jiangsu took the lead in formulating the Guidelines on Safety and Risk Prevention of Overseas Projects for Jiangsu Enterprises, and established a database of overseas personnel and institutions. We have built a Jiangsu foreign affairs smart platform, promoted the pilot undertakings of “one-stop online services” for consular and government services and integrated foreign-related notarization and certification services. The number of people that entered China during the pandemic via “fast tracks” through Jiangsu’s assistance remained the highest.