Original Title: Notice Issued by the People’s Government of Ningbo Municipality on Several Measures to Further Strengthen Investment Promotion Work
Ningbo Municipal Government Document [2022] No. 64
Document Status: Valid
Registration Number of Normative Document: ZJBC00-2022-0006
To the People’s Governments of All Districts (Counties, Cities), and All Municipal, Ministry-level, and Provincial Units Stationed in Ningbo:
The "Several Measures on Further Strengthening Investment Promotion Work" is hereby issued to you. Please ensure its thorough implementation.
Ningbo Municipal People’s Government
December 8, 2022
Several Measures to Further Strengthen Investment Promotion Work
To reshape and optimize the investment promotion system, further strengthen the coordination of planning, policies, resources, and projects, steadily advance high-level opening-up, and strive to build our city into a hub for high-quality foreign investment and a destination of choice for leading enterprises, the following measures are hereby formulated.
I. Restructuring the Investment Promotion System to Foster a Citywide Collaborative Effort
(1) Strengthen the Top-Level Design of Investment Promotion. Establish the Municipal Investment Promotion Committee as a deliberative and coordinating body under the Municipal Government, responsible for providing overall leadership for the city’s investment promotion efforts and driving the resolution of major issues in this work. (Responsible Units: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau; other member units of the Municipal Investment Promotion Committee)
(2) Restructuring the Investment Promotion Work System. The Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau shall fully leverage its role in planning, coordination, and serving as a hub. It shall formulate and implement municipal-level investment promotion plans and policies; guide project layout in accordance with regional industrial positioning and the principle of promoting optimal resource allocation; and conduct full-process, closed-loop management of major municipal investment projects.(Responsible Unit: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau) In accordance with the requirement that “managing an industry entails managing investment promotion, and managing a sector entails managing investment promotion,” the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, Municipal Transportation Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Municipal Commerce Bureau,the Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism, the Municipal Health Commission, the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Municipal Local Financial Regulatory Bureau, and the Municipal Bureau of Services—shall earnestly fulfill their responsibilities as industry regulators. They shall plan major industrial projects within their respective fields, establish industry expert think tanks, and integrate supporting industry policies conducive to investment promotion. For each major investment project, they shall collaborate with relevant resource-providing departments to establish dedicated service task forces as needed, concentrating efforts to advance these projects.(Responsible Units: Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, Municipal Transportation Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Municipal Commerce Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism, Municipal Health Commission, Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Municipal Local Financial Regulatory Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Services, Municipal Energy Bureau) The governments of all districts (counties, cities), as well as the management committees of development zones such as the Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone, Ningbo Qianwan New Area, Ningbo High-Tech Zone,the Yongjiang Science and Technology Innovation Zone, and other development zones must earnestly assume primary responsibility. Based on their respective industrial positioning and in accordance with regional development plans, they must diligently carry out investment promotion work. The principal leaders of all localities must treat investment promotion as a “top-priority project,” personally advancing, liaising with, and supervising major projects, key investors, and major investment promotion activities. The principal Party and government leaders must lead investment promotion trips outside the city at least once a month.(Responsible Units: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau; governments of all districts [counties, cities]; management committees of development zones)
(3) Optimize the system for advancing major investment projects. Establish and improve working mechanisms for the initial reporting of major project information, rapid preliminary review and assessment, scheduling and promotion, and dedicated task force services to build a promotion system with clear divisions of labor and smooth processes. Adhere to city-wide coordination of major investment projects; districts (counties, cities) and development zones shall advance projects in a coordinated manner according to industrial layouts and eliminate malicious competition.Implement the “Six Ones” approach for advancing major investment projects (one major project, one work plan, one investment roadmap, one assigned leader, one lead agency, and one dedicated project team). Implement tiered and categorized management for signed projects and planned investment projects to ensure full-process service support from project negotiations through to implementation and production. (Responsible Units: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau, municipal-level industry authorities, district [county, city] governments, and development zone management committees)
(4) Improve the evaluation and supervision mechanism for investment promotion work. Optimize evaluation indicators and refine evaluation methods; issue monthly reports on the progress of major investment projects and the fulfillment of investment targets; and further strengthen the evaluation of investment promotion efforts by local governments and relevant departments. Organize and carry out supervision of the implementation of major investment projects, regularly sending supervision notices to the lead units of projects to ensure their swift and successful implementation. (Responsible Units: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau, Municipal Supervision and Evaluation Office, and municipal-level industry authorities)
II. Implement Targeted Investment Promotion, Focusing on Attracting High-Quality Global Industrial Projects
(5) Vigorously Promote Industrial Chain Investment Promotion. Centered on the three trillion-yuan industrial clusters, ten flagship industrial chains, and the city’s critically needed production-oriented service sectors, we will survey the investment intentions of leading enterprises such as Fortune Global 500 companies, China’s Top 500, central state-owned enterprises, “single-champion” enterprises, “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” enterprises, and unicorns. We will target a group of foreign-funded R&D centers and open innovation platforms, screen niche segments in key sectors,develop investment attraction frameworks such as “industry trees” and “industry maps,” formulate tailored industrial chain investment attraction plans, and strive to attract a batch of “large, high-quality, and strong; green, high-tech, and innovative” projects characterized by substantial investment scale, strong development benefits, and significant industrial spillover effects. (Responsible Units: Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Supervision, Municipal Port Office, Municipal Bureau of Services, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
(6) Actively explore investment-banking-style capital-driven investment promotion. Gradually implement the shift from fiscal grants to equity investments, explore the establishment of a municipal-level investment promotion fund-of-funds, and actively attract leading global investment institutions and national-level industrial investment funds to co-establish sub-funds with our city, using capital cooperation to drive project settlement.Leverage the role of state-owned investment platforms to drive the introduction of emerging industry projects through equity investment. Intensify efforts to attract talent through capital investment, providing selective funding to startup teams that have already secured private capital investment, and use “investment-driven attraction” to accelerate the aggregation and development of talent and projects. (Responsible Units: Municipal Party Committee Organization Department [Municipal Party Committee Talent Office], Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
(7) Promote cluster-based investment promotion by local “chain-leading” enterprises. Regularly visit “chain-leading” enterprises selected from local listed companies and industry leaders to understand their industrial layout dynamics and thoroughly explore industrial resources upstream and downstream of their supply chains. Through mutual recommendations among entrepreneurs and the attraction of complementary industrial partnerships between enterprises, we will achieve the goal of “serving one well to attract a group.”(Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Supervision, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency; governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(8) Encourage foreign-invested enterprises to reinvest their profits. Implement policies such as the temporary exemption from withholding tax on direct investments made by overseas investors using distributed profits, and further streamline administrative procedures. Establish a “one-on-one” liaison mechanism with 100 key foreign-invested enterprises to assist in resolving operational challenges and encourage these enterprises to increase capital and expand production in Ningbo. Provide foreign-invested enterprises with the same supporting policies for profit reinvestment as those for new foreign capital inflows.(Responsible Units: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau, Ningbo Municipal Tax Bureau, governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(9) Support the high-quality development of high-quality projects by local enterprises. Regularly collect and screen information on the intentions of local industrial enterprises to increase capital and expand production, and strengthen support for the provision of production factors. For projects where local capacity cannot meet demand or where the designated location is explicitly within another area of the city, ensure orderly transfer through a project transfer mechanism to prevent project loss. Support the inclusion of fundraising and investment projects by local listed companies (including those planning to go public) in the municipal database of major investment projects, and provide the same supporting policies as those for newly registered investment projects.(Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Supervision, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency, governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(10) Seize the opportunity presented by the construction of the Hub Free Trade Zone to attract major projects. Seize the policy opportunities offered by the Ningbo Area of the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, fully leverage the policy advantages of the high-level opening-up pilot for cross-border trade and investment, focus on deepening institutional innovation in oil and gas resource allocation and international supply chain models, accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing clusters such as green petrochemicals and automobiles and auto parts, and attract a group of leading, platform-based, and headquarters-type enterprises to settle in the Ningbo Area.(Responsible Unit: Management Committee of the Ningbo Area of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone )
(11) Enhance the digitalization of investment promotion efforts. Establish and improve a citywide digital management platform for major investment projects to comprehensively and accurately track the status of major projects across all stages, including project reserves, negotiations, contract signing, construction commencement, and production launch. Utilize big data technology to intensify the aggregation and sharing of information on industries, projects, and production factors; create precise profiles of the city’s existing key industries, emerging industries, and future industries; forecast industrial investment trends; and accurately identify target enterprises for industrial investment promotion. (Responsible Unit: Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau)
III. Expand Channels and Networks, and Implement Global “Dual Recruitment and Investment Attraction” Promotion Initiatives
(12) Optimize the global network for investment and talent recruitment. Enhance the functions of talent liaison service stations in key domestic cities. Establish “investment and talent recruitment” liaison stations in 10 key domestic cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, while simultaneously covering other major cities in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Bohai Rim regions.Strengthen unified leadership, integrate various resources, and coordinate the efforts of investment and talent recruitment personnel stationed abroad across all city districts. Target central state-owned enterprises, major research institutes, multinational corporations, listed companies, innovative enterprises, and startup teams to actively carry out “dual recruitment and attraction” work.Leveraging professional intermediary agencies, prominent alumni associations, and overseas representative offices of well-known enterprises, establish overseas “dual recruitment and attraction” liaison stations in key international cities such as Hamburg, Germany; San Francisco, USA; London, UK; and Tokyo, Japan. Utilize the nine liaison offices stationed in Central and Eastern European countries to thoroughly explore information on investment and layout projects of multinational corporations in those host nations.(Responsible Units: Municipal Party Committee Organization Department [Municipal Party Committee Talent Office], Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau; governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(13) Advance the Global “Investment and Talent Attraction” Partnership Program. Select a group of renowned international agencies, high-end consulting firms, leading investment funds, and experts from major research institutions and universities to serve as our city’s global investment promotion partners. Encourage investment promotion agencies to provide high-quality project information, and offer incentives to agencies for successfully introducing and implementing industrial projects that align with our city’s industrial development priorities and meet a certain scale. (Responsible Units: Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
(14) Effectively organize domestic and international “investment and talent attraction” promotional activities. Deepen investment and talent attraction efforts at trade fairs; leveraging major events such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), organize配套 investment and talent attraction activities such as matchmaking sessions with executives from multinational corporations to continuously enhance our city’s capacity to attract and integrate domestic and international resources.Effectively organize the “Overseas Ningbo Week” event, focusing on European countries and RCEP member states, and strive to attract and establish a batch of foreign-invested projects. All districts (counties, cities) and development zones shall conduct activities to promote their local business environments and key industries, and organize domestic and international “dual recruitment and attraction” events annually. (Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency; governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(15) Leverage the unique resource advantages of the “Ningbo Clan.” Fully utilize the industrial and networking resources of the “Ningbo Clan” both at home and abroad. Relying on flagship events such as the “Ningbo Clan · Helping Ningbo” Development Conference and the Ningbo-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Forum, and leveraging platforms such as the “Qiaomengyuan,” we will strengthen exchanges and interactions with global hometown associations, chambers of commerce, and alumni associations. Using hometown ties and familial bonds as a link, we will attract investment through business connections and emotional ties.(Responsible Units: Municipal United Front Work Department, Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce; governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
IV. Concentrate Policy Resources to Effectively Strengthen Support for the Implementation of Key Projects
(16) Optimize fiscal incentive policies for investment promotion. Implement settlement incentives for major projects, providing settlement rewards for newly introduced industrial foreign-funded projects that align with the city’s industrial development priorities and meet a certain scale. Encourage the introduction of licensed foreign-funded banking, insurance, and securities institutions, and support the pilot program for Qualified Foreign Limited Partnerships (QFLP). Provide settlement incentives for newly introduced financial enterprises of the aforementioned types that meet a certain scale.(Responsible Units: Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau)
(17) Strengthen the supply of key resources for major investment projects. Improve the mechanism where “projects follow planning and resources follow projects,” and establish a citywide list of land available for investment promotion and a citywide list of land-related investment projects. For major projects included in the city’s key project list that feature high output per mu and strong driving capacity, the municipal natural resources and planning department shall coordinate to fully guarantee new land use plan quotas. All localities and relevant departments shall coordinate to ensure the supply of key resources such as funds, human resources, energy, and ecological environment, to ensure the successful implementation of major municipal industrial projects.(Responsible Units: Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Municipal Energy Bureau, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
(18) Facilitate the Movement of International Business Personnel. While ensuring effective COVID-19 prevention and control measures, actively create conditions to facilitate the entry and exit of executives, technical personnel, and their family members from multinational corporations and foreign-invested enterprises. Establish “fast-track channels” for the movement of Chinese and foreign personnel to create convenient conditions for foreign investors visiting our city for inspections. Encourage local governments and relevant departments to conduct investment promotion activities abroad, optimize related application procedures, and ensure funding and other necessary support.(Responsible Units: Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Health Commission, Municipal Foreign Affairs Office)
V. Stimulating Personnel Vitality and Focusing on Building a “Diligent and Dedicated” Investment Promotion Team
(19) Strengthen the integration and upgrading of the city’s investment promotion team. Intensify efforts to recruit leading talent in investment promotion, openly recruit investment promotion staff from the public, launch the “Diligent and Dedicated, Specialized and Professional” initiative to enhance the team, and conduct regular specialized training for investment promotion officials citywide.Strengthen the training and exchange of investment promotion cadres at the municipal and county levels, with a focus on cultivating, identifying, and selecting cadres on the front lines of investment promotion. Each year, the organizational departments at the municipal and county levels shall dispatch outstanding young cadres to gain experience in frontline investment promotion positions, state-owned enterprise industrial platforms, and renowned enterprises such as those listed in the Fortune Global 500 and China’s Top 500. (Responsible Units: Municipal Party Committee Organization Department, Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
(20) Stimulate the vitality and motivation of the investment promotion team. Optimize and strengthen the municipal-level corporate-style investment promotion team, and explore the establishment of training and promotion mechanisms for corporate-style investment promotion personnel. Explore market-oriented incentive mechanisms for investment promotion; based on strict implementation of national and provincial regulations on wages and allowances, formulate personnel incentive measures that align with the actual circumstances of investment promotion work. Establish a “monthly ranking, quarterly reporting, annual assessment” performance evaluation mechanism to foster a positive work atmosphere that encourages competition for advancement.(Responsible Units: Municipal Party Committee Organization Department, Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
VI. Optimizing the Business Environment and Comprehensively Enhancing Investment Promotion Service Levels
(21) Standardize market entry thresholds. Deepen the implementation of the pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management system for foreign investment. Vigorously advance the “One-Stop Service” reform, optimize procedures for business registration, relocation, tax and fee matters, and deregistration, and achieve online, mobile, and one-stop processing for all relevant affairs.(Responsible Units: Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Municipal Commerce Bureau, Municipal Market Regulation Bureau, Municipal Government Affairs Office, Ningbo Municipal Tax Bureau, governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(22) Optimize and enhance financial services. Promote precise alignment between industry and finance; support, guide, and encourage banks, insurance companies, and policy-based financing guarantee institutions to focus on major municipal investment projects, fully utilize various financial instruments, develop tailored financing solutions, provide credit resources, and facilitate the implementation of major investment projects. (Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Supervision; governments of all districts [counties, cities]; and management committees of development zones)
(23) Properly address issues regarding medical care and school enrollment for children of talent relocating to Ningbo. Senior management and key technical personnel of major investment projects shall be entitled to a green channel for medical treatment at designated Grade III Class A hospitals in Ningbo. For their children who need to transfer to local primary and secondary schools (or kindergartens), appropriate solutions shall be provided in a tiered and categorized manner in accordance with relevant policies regarding the enrollment of children of high-level talent.(Responsible Units: Municipal Education Bureau, Municipal Health Commission, governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
VII. Strengthen Systems and Mechanisms to Ensure the Compliance and Orderly Conduct of Investment Promotion Work
(24) Further standardize the management of investment promotion processes. Further standardize procedures for major investment projects, including comprehensive assessment, policy formulation, deliberation and decision-making, agreement implementation, and project filing. Focus on dynamic supervision of “one-company-one-policy” projects, strengthen follow-up tracking of investment agreement fulfillment, and strictly prevent premature, excessive, or unauthorized fulfillment of incentives. Adhere to a balanced approach of leniency and strictness, and implement mechanisms for error tolerance and correction.(Responsible Units: Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Municipal Supervisory Commission, Municipal Party Committee Organization Department, Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau; governments of all districts [counties, cities], and management committees of development zones)
(25) Establish and improve a funding mechanism for investment promotion work. Formulate and refine regulations on business hospitality for investment promotion, and ensure necessary working funds are provided in accordance with regulations. Strengthen audit supervision of investment promotion funds to enhance the performance of fund utilization. (Responsible Units: Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Audit Bureau, Municipal Investment Promotion Agency)
These measures shall take effect on January 1, 2023. The “Notice of the Ningbo Municipal People’s Government on Several Measures to Comprehensively Strengthen Investment Promotion Work” (Ning Zheng Fa [2018] No. 62) is hereby repealed.
