(Yicai) July 3 -- Many Chinese provincial-level regions have come up with action plans, such as dishing out grants and facilitating visas, to encourage and make it easier for foreign companies to invest in China, following two recent top-level government meetings emphasizing the importance of attracting and utilizing foreign investment.

Overseas firms play a very important role in the construction of new patterns for development and as such it is necessary to attract more foreign investment and to stabilize it, the State Council said last week.

Further action is needed to make better use of foreign investment, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at a meeting held on July 1. More effort should be made to build a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment, He said.

Chinese and foreign companies should be given equal support to upgrade large equipment and to take part in the bidding for government projects. There should be a smooth channel to address the needs of foreign companies and to promptly respond to any concerns.

Provinces that are major destinations of foreign capital should improve services and speed up the implementation of international investment projects, said He.

Guangdong, which is China’s top province for foreign trade, is offering grants of up to CNY150 million (USD20.6 million) to companies in the high-tech manufacturing sector and other types of manufacturing to lure more oveseas investment.

Businesses in the high-tech services sector and some other fields can receive handouts worth a maximum of CNY80 million (USD11 million). It is also dishing out one-time grants of CNY5 million (USD687,437) to multinationals which set up their regional headquarters in Guangdong province.

And eastern Jiangsu province is making it easier for groups and organizations to travel overseas to participate in conventions and exhibitions and secure more foreign investment.

It is also facilitating visa applications by senior executives and technicians of foreign-invested enterprises and multinationals, in order to encourage international companies to get involved in the development of the biomedicine industrial chain.

The central and western areas of the country are also actively optimizing the environment for foreign investment. Sichuan province, in the southwest of the country, is encouraging overseas firms to set up regional headquarters as well as R&D and innovation hubs, an executive at the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Economic Cooperation said. Twenty-nine foreign companies, including Germany’s Messer Group, US' Albemarle Corp. as well as Taiwan’s Xinyi Glass, have received grants.

Editor: Kim Taylor