(Yicai) Jan. 5 -- Shanghai has released a new action plan to accelerate the creation of a first-class business environment.

The ninth action plan in nine consecutive years was released today. It includes 26 tasks and measures focused on four key areas: government services, market competition, industrial ecology, and social governance.

The plan was released at a meeting attended by representatives from over 100 domestic and foreign enterprises, business associations, and professional service institutions, along with key city leaders, district heads, and leaders of major industrial parks.

The 26 tasks outlined in the action plan should be aligned with each other, as their implementation will demonstrate Shanghai's commitment to supporting the high-quality development of all types of business entities and consolidating the momentum of steady economic growth, Shanghai's Mayor Gong Zheng said at the meeting.

He called for fully utilizing the '3+1 mechanism,' which consists in economic operation coordination, investment promotion and enterprise services, coordination of district and sub-district requests, and foreign trade stabilization.

The city should prioritize the optimization of its business environment to promote high-quality development, Shanghai Municipal Party Secretary Chen Jining said at the meeting. This will boost market confidence and guide social expectations, facilitate the gathering of top Chinese and foreign enterprises and talents, and invigorate the momentum for high-quality development, providing strong support for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).

In terms of government services, Shanghai will promote the intelligent processing of high-frequency administrative matters, with all policies supporting enterprises being made available on a unified platform, according to the action plan.

The eastern Chinese city will also optimize services for foreign firms in the Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone and expand the functions of the Easy Go platform for foreign personnel. Moreover, it will create a comprehensive service platform covering the entire city to support local companies in going global and expand the applicability of the negative list for data outbound.

In terms of market competition, the action plan proposed to establish a fair competition review mechanism and strengthen the regulation of antitrust and unfair competition. It also pledged to reduce the frequency of on-site inspections for companies with good credit and low risk.

In addition, Shanghai vowed to combat professional claim reporting, online rumors, and extortion related to public opinion, ensure that government agencies do not delay payments to enterprises, and provide legal assistance and commercial dispute resolution services.

Industrial ecology was added as a key focus to the action plan for the first time. Shanghai will streamline land development and construction approval processes, promote the reform of combined approvals, and optimize industrial upgrading in vertical industrial parks.

A unified financing platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises will be launched citywide, facilitating banks' implementation of seamless loan renewal policies. Shanghai will also grant greater authority to street- and town-level administrations to address the needs of companies.

Fifty-eight reforms from the eighth action plan for the creation of a first-class business environment were fully rolled out last year. In the World Bank's business environment survey for enterprises, Shanghai claimed 22 global best practices.

Editor: Futura Costaglione