In order to promote foreign investment in Shanxi’s advantageous industrial sectors, intensify efforts to attract more global investors, further implement the opening up policy, and elevate Shanxi’s position in the new development pattern, the following measures are hereby formulated:   

I. Harnessing the Comparative Advantages in the Energy Reform Programs  

1. Supporting Foreign-invested Enterprises in Energy Reform Initiatives.

Encourage foreign-invested enterprises to participate in integrated development of coalbed methane, shale gas, and tight gas, and align with the province’s strategic plan for building, extending, supplementing, and strengthening the entire gas industry chain. Support collaboration between foreign-invested enterprises and provincial innovation platforms/research institutions to advance key technologies in energy production, transmission, and consumption. Promote participation in modern coal chemical pilot bases and encourage domestic steel/coking enterprises to integrate with international advanced technology firms to build an open modern industrial system.  

2. Supporting Foreign-invested Enterprises in New and Clean Energy Industry. 

Encourage foreign-invested enterprises to engage in large-scale applications of “integrated development of wind, solar, thermal power, and energy storage” and co-develop replicable commercial models. Support projects such as solar thermal heating, waste-to-energy power generation in urban areas, and pilot programs for comprehensive biomass energy utilization. 3. Supporting Foreign-invested Enterprises in the Building of the Ful Energy Industry Chain. 

Invite foreign-invested enterprises to invest in wind power equipment manufacturing (e.g., wind turbine blades, control systems), coalbed methane equipment bases, and high-precision exploration equipment, directional drilling rigs, and intelligent extraction systems. Support foreign investments in new energy full industrial chains, including charging/fueling infrastructure, and methanol and hydrogen value chains.  

4. Supporting Foreign-invested Enterprises in the Development of Environment-friendly Mining Area.

Encourage cities like Datong, Shuozhou, Xinzhou, Yangquan, and Lvliang to attract foreign-invested enterprises in coal and mineral development, extend industrial chains, and promote comprehensive utilization of associated minerals. Support domestic enterprises to partner with foreign-invested firms equipped with advanced technologies in tailings/co-mineral processing to enhance resource efficiency. Encourage their participation in mine ecological restoration.  

5. Promoting Foreign-invested Enterprises in Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Cooperation.

Support key emission sectors (construction material, steel, non-ferrous metals, chemicals) in collaborating with advanced foreign-invested enterprises to reduce emissions. Encourage participation in carbon market construction and provincial green low-carbon circular economy demonstration parks. Advocate them to adopt advanced energy-saving technologies and equipment, and support their engagement in energy-saving service industries.  

6. Advancing Foreign-invested Enterprises in Digital and Intelligent Transformation. 

Promote application of 5G, IoT, AI, big data, and industrial internet in the coal industry through advanced foreign technologies. Support leading-edge foreign-invested enterprises in cooperating on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and other key technological demonstrations. Encourage equity mergers and strategic cooperation between foreign-invested enterprises and provincial energy firms.  

II. Strengthening the Role of Foreign-Invested Enterprises in Supply-Chain Optimization  

1. Supporting Foreign Investment in Key Industries and R&D.

Focus on industry-specific towns and industrial chains to attract foreign investment in energy, advanced manufacturing, modern agriculture, digital economy, cultural tourism, and modern services. Encourage vocational education/training collaboration between foreign-invested enterprises and local schools/institutions. Support establishment of R&D centers by foreign-invested enterprises in Shanxi and joint R&D projects with domestic firms. Encourage participation in major scientific research initiatives.  

2. Accelerating Foreign Investment in Biomedical Industry.

Expedite project implementation for foreign-invested enterprises in the biopharmaceutical sector in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.  

3. Promoting Development of Foreign-Invested Holding Companies.

Encourage qualified foreign investors to establish holding companies in Shanxi. Eligible entities may enjoy import duty exemptions and preferential land prices for projects aligned with the Encouraged Catalogue for Foreign Investment (2022 Edition) or the Advantageous Industries for Foreign Investment in Western and Central China.

III. Actively Undertaking Manufacturing Industry Transfer from Eastern China

1. Fostering Concentrated Development of Transferred Industries.

Leverage existing national and provincial-level development zones and international cooperation parks to plan clusters for eastern manufacturing transfer in regions with advantageous location and transportation. Implement national policies supporting phased transfer of foreign-invested enterprises to achieve concentrated development.  

2. Supporting Taiyuan and Datong to attract more foreign investment.

We should encourage foreign-invested enterprises in Taiyuan to focus on investing in key industrial chains such as deep processing of special steel materials, high-end equipment manufacturing, wind power equipment, hydrogen energy, third-generation semiconductors, etc., so as to play the role of a new inland area open to the outside world. We should encourage foreign-invested enterprises to focus on investing in information and data services, tourism and leisure consumption, logistics facilities construction, advanced manufacturing and other industries in Datong City, so as to give full play to Datong City's advantageous position as the “Bridgehead of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei”.

3. Supporting other regions to highlight their industry characteristics for enhancing foreign investment. 

We should support the Shanxi Comprehensive Reform Demonstration Zone and Taixin Integration Economic Zone boasting strong catalytic role in the center area of the province to attract foreign investment in high-tech industries, advanced manufacturing, trade and logistics centers and professional service centers and other industries. We should support Jinzhong City, Changzhi City, Jincheng City to play the role of national-level development zones, to attract foreign investment in technology-intensive, green and low-carbon industries, and guide the synergistic development of productive services and manufacturing industries. We should leverage labor resources of Yuncheng City and Linfen City as the regional center of the Yellow River Golden Triangle Industrial Transfer Demonstration Zone, with a focus on attracting foreign investment in labor-intensive industries. Shuozhou City, Xinzhou City, Yangquan City, Lvliang City are supported to attract foreign investment in deep-processing of agricultural products and upstream and downstream supporting industries of local advantageous industries.

4. Leveraging existing open platform to attract investment.

We should support Wusu Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Jincheng Lanhua Bonded Logistics Center, Houma Fanglue Bonded Logistics Park, Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone to play the role of demonstration and leadership of open platform, focusing on attracting foreign investment in research and development, logistics, sales, cross-border e-commerce and other industries. We should support Shanxi Comprehensive Reform Demonstration Zone RCEP International Industrial Cooperation Park, Changzhi High-tech Zone RCEP International Industrial Cooperation Park and Sino-German International Cooperation Industrial Park to give full play to their industrial strengths and attract foreign investment in the aviation industry, electronic information and advanced manufacturing industry respectively.

5. Making efforts to attract investment from Taiwan.

Cross-Strait (Taiyuan) Industrial Park, Cross-Strait (Gaoping) Industrial Park should dock with Shenzhen, Dongguan, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Suzhou and other places, with a focus on attracting Taiwan investment.

IV. Improving the Protection of Rights and Interests of Foreign-Invested Enterprises and Service Levels

1. Implementing national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises.

Foreign-invested enterprises will be supported to participate equally in government and state-owned enterprise procurement and in health insurance procurement. If a foreign-invested enterprise believes that its rights and interests have been jeopardized by government procurement activities, it can file a query or complaint in accordance with the regulations, and the municipal finance departments should accept and deal with the matter fairly in accordance with the law.

2. Protecting the rights and interests of foreign-invested enterprises in accordance with the law.

The province's foreign business complaint system has been formulated, and a mechanism has been established at the provincial and municipal levels for the acceptance, coordination and handling of foreign business complaints, so as to realize closed-loop management of the protection of the rights and interests of foreign-invested enterprises. The foreign investor complaint mechanism should focus on resolving cross-departmental matters or issues concerning policy and system.

3. Standardizing and optimizing management methods.

We will implement the joint supervision method, improve the technical means of “Internet plus Supervision”, so as to build a first-class business environment that is market-oriented and law-based, and follows international practices.

4. Improving the overall coordination responsibilities of special teams focusing on foreign investment.

The office of the provincial special team is located in the Department of Commerce, and it will coordinate the work of policy formulation, investment promotion, protection of rights and interests, assessment and evaluation, and comprehensive coordination. Municipalities should set up special teams to solve the difficulties and problems encountered in the investment promotion, the signing, construction, commissioning and operation of projects in accordance with the division of responsibilities.

5. Establishing a provincial-level round-table dialogue system for government and foreign-invested enterprises. 

We will regularly organize provincial government-enterprise exchange round-table dialogues, invites leaders of foreign-invested enterprises to serve as consultants on industrial transfer, and exchanges on industrial transfer development. Municipalities are encouraged to establish a round-table dialog system in the light of the actual situation, and to adopt flexible forms to exchanges with foreign-invested enterprises on an equal footing. With regard to the problems raised in the round-table dialogues, it is necessary to record, follow up and supervise, properly solve the problems, give replies within a certain period of time and provide timely feedback.

6. Continuing to optimize the service mechanism for foreign-invested enterprises and projects.

We will optimize the registration and approval services for foreign-invested enterprises, and implement “one-stop” integrated services, whereby enterprises can make a declaration and receive a certificate directly. Foreign-invested enterprises project filing, construction and other procedures are implemented “one window acceptance, one-stop processing”. The government who undertakes projects should arrange specific departments to handle the whole process.

V. Strengthening Financial Policy Support

1. Continue to implement the capital incentives.

Foreign-invested enterprises who have actual capital in place (including capital increase, reinvestment of corporate profits) of more than 10 million U.S. dollar and in line with the industrial policy, will be given up to 5% of the actual amount of foreign capital as rewards in RMB (For example, the actual capital of 10 million U.S. dollars reward 500,000 yuan); For multinational corporations with assets of more than 50 million dollar to set up regional headquarters or headquarters-type organizations, capital in RMB incentives will be given in accordance with 10% of the actual funds in place (For example, the actual capital of 10 million dollars reward one million RMB). The maximum reward for a single enterprise shall not exceed 10 million yuan.

2. Implement economic contribution awards. 

The provincial finance will give a certain percentage of rewards to the world top 500 enterprises investing in Shanxi according to their contribution.

3. The implementation of project landing rewards. 

If the world's top 500 enterprises to rent local office buildings and production plants, the provincial finance will give start-up subsidies according to the scale.

4. Implementation of project referral awards. 

Support foreign-invested enterprises to attract upstream and downstream enterprises through business investment, and referral enterprises can enjoy a maximum of 10 million yuan referral reward.

5. Supporting the policy of equal access. 

Foreign-invested enterprises shall enjoy all policies to support industrial development and expand domestic demand promulgated by governments and departments at all levels, except those clearly stipulated by laws and regulations or those related to national security. In accordance with the law, foreign workers working in Shanxi are given equal social security treatment.

6. Strengthening the guarantee of project elements. 

We will promote the inclusion of qualified foreign-invested enterprise projects in the list of major foreign investment projects of the National Development and Reform Commission and key foreign investment projects of the Ministry of Commerce, and strive for factor protection at the national level. In terms of energy consumption, environmental capacity and new construction land, the cities should fully guarantee the foreign manufacturing projects, and if they cannot meet the demand, they can apply for special adjustment at the provincial level for supporting foreign-invested enterprise projects. Support the adoption of flexible employment forms such as labor dispatch, comprehensive calculated working hours system and irregular working hours system through consultation between foreign-invested enterprises and workers, purchase commercial insurance for part-time workers, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

VI. Improve the working mechanism for attracting foreign investment

1. Establish a market-oriented working mechanism led by the government.

Establish a flexible and efficient coordination mechanism for promoting foreign investment with the participation of the government, investment promotion agencies, business associations, intermediaries and leading enterprises in the industrial chain. We will give full play to the role of investment promotion departments at the provincial, city and county levels as the main channels. We will mobilize the enthusiasm of all types of market-oriented foreign investment promotion agencies and give full play to the role of different types of foreign investment promotion platforms. Establish investment liaison teams in cities in eastern China where foreign investment enterprises are concentrated to undertake the relocation of foreign manufacturing industries.

2. Encourage province and cities to jointly engage in overseas investment promotion. 

Encourage and support municipalities to “go global” to attract investment and hold overseas promotion activities for investment promotion. All municipalities shall compile and print the Guide to Foreign Investment in line with professional standards on an annual basis and publish it on the government portal website. Where conditions permit, cities and development zones may build public service platforms such as exhibition halls for business environment for foreign investment.

3. Improving the living facilitation for personnel of foreign-invested enterprises. 

We will provide visa documents convenience for foreign personnel engaged in investment, entrepreneurship, scientific research, economic and trade. The service features “one-window acceptance and parallel examination and approval” for work permits and work-type residence permits for foreign talents introduced by foreign-related enterprises. We will provide facilities for qualified foreign talents to apply for permanent residence. If the children of high-level talents of foreign-invested enterprises need to enroll in kindergartens or study in primary and secondary schools in Shanxi, the local government shall coordinate and provide convenience. Encourage and support qualified municipalities to give awards and subsidies to the high-level talents of foreign-invested enterprises for their contributions.

4. Establish an evaluation and reward mechanism for attracting foreign investment.

We will focus on evaluating the actual use of foreign capital in each city, the proportion of actual use of foreign capital in manufacturing industry, the number of newly registered foreign-invested enterprises, the number of transfer projects attracting foreign manufacturing industry, and the number of public service platforms utilizing foreign capital (including foreign capital promotion activities and special signing activities for foreign capital). Publish the evaluation results in a timely manner, and reward each city according to its level. We will improve evaluation methods for development zones and increase the weight of evaluation indicators for the utilization of foreign capital. We will strictly regulate the statistics and management of foreign investment data, and punish data fraud according to law and regulations.

5. Supporting innovation in work systems and mechanisms.

Encourage cities to implement more flexible employment mechanisms and salary systems for personnels of non-public institution position in investment promotion departments and teams. All cities may incorporate the achievements of foreign investment and investment into the assessment and incentive, formulate measures according to the local situation, encourage professional investment intermediaries and various institutions to introduce foreign investment projects, reward institutions that have made great contributions to the introduction of foreign investment projects, and improve the market-oriented operation of investment promotion activities.

The preferential policies do not include financial projects (including qualified overseas limited partner projects), real estate projects (including commercial complex projects). The foreign investors referred to in these measures are equally applicable to investors from Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR.