帮助企业海外投资的培训

China's trade authorities have announced a reduction in procedural costs and launched training sessions to educate domestic companies in the nuances of investing overseas. This comes as a rising number of small and medium sized enterprises seek to go global.

From giant state-owned enterprises like Sinopec, to small but growing family firms focusing on manufacturing, there is a rising number of Chinese companies seeking to go global.

Figures show that the country's overseas investment is set to reach 120 billion US dollars this year, and will for the first time exceed the foreign investment coming into China.

On Monday, China's trade authorities announced a further reduction in costs for domestic companies that are investing overseas.

"Chinese government has reduced the fees on applying for the certificate of origin for all companies investing overseas. The reduction of this fees is a gradual process that began in 2012. This year alone, over 8 million yuan, or 1.3 million US dollars have been registered in savings for domestic companies. The latest policy will save significantly more," Yu Xiaodong, deputy secretary general of China Council For The Promotion Of Int’l Trade, said.

Since the new leadership took office in 2012, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has been leading the reforms on simplifying government procedures for ordinary people and businesses.

In keeping with the reforms, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has also set up a training center to help leaders of domestic companies familiarize themselves with the overseas business environment.

Officials say that a lot of trainings are tailor-made for Chinese home-grown enterprises.

"Many small and medium sized companies in China are family firms, which may work well in China but face high risks when competing in the global arena. We try to advise them on avoiding some of these risks. Many companies now choose to invest in developing areas like Africa and Southeast Asia. It is necessary to tell them about the situation locally," Xiong Xunlin, director of CCPIT Business Training Center, said.

In 2004, overseas investment from China stood at just over 5 billion US dollars. That has seen a huge jump in the last decade.

Officials say managing the risks and providing better service for companies going global are becoming increasingly important.

Reducing procedural fees and launching training sessions are just part of the effort of the Chinese government to help raise global competitiveness of small and medium sized companies. Analysts say that this is one step forward for China to build a service-oriented government.