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The National Development and Reform Commission File Photo: VCG

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), vowed on Thursday to boost the private sector through new measures. These initiatives aim to enhance the market environment, promote private investment and stimulate growth in the private economy. 

The commission also reaffirmed plans to enact a private sector promotion law.

The NDRC is drafting guidelines to optimize the layout and adjust the structure of the state-owned economy and formulating a private-sector promotion law. This effort is part of a broader strategy to promote the complementary development of all economies, including state-owned, private and foreign-invested enterprises, Jin Xiandong, a spokesperson for the NDRC, told a press briefing on Thursday.

The NDRC will also push to build a unified national market and improve the rules of the market. Measures include safeguarding equal property rights across different ownerships, refining market access and creating a favorable entry environment for new industries, Jin said.

Enacting a private-sector promotion law would codify many existing policies aimed at ensuring the healthy development of the private economy. This legal framework would help protect the rights and interests of private enterprises, Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University, told the Global Times on Thursday

"The policies and the private-sector promotion law reflect China's commitment to treating private companies on par with state-owned firms, providing them with a fair and competitive market environment," Zhou noted.

The NDRC emphasized its commitment to encouraging private investment by addressing current barriers. Jin stated that the commission will continue to implement measures that remove obstacles to private investment and promote high-quality development in the sector.

Private enterprises are encouraged to leverage their strengths to participate in major projects. Equal opportunities will be provided for them to contribute to significant investment initiatives, which could further spur economic growth, said Zhou.

The NDRC established a platform to promote investment projects to private capital in September 2023, as part of its initiatives to attract private investment with high-quality projects. As of the end of August this year, the platform had attracted private participation in 1,963 projects across sectors like infrastructure.