China is reducing market restrictions and opening up the oil and gas sector: from July 30, the government will ease the constraints on foreign investments in advanced manufacturing, particularly in the mining, transport and entertainment sectors. The announcement was made jointly by the Ministry of Trade and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), with the publication, on June 30, of the “2019 Negative List”. This annual document lists the areas of the economy that are closed to foreign capital. The new list is 20 percent shorter than previous editions, with the number of sectors subject to restrictions cut from 48 to 40 (there were 180 in 2011). A signal that Beijing intends to continue opening up and reforming the economy, and to speed up negotiations with Washington in order to avert a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. In particular, the Chinese government has removed the obligation for foreign companies to have a Chinese partner in the exploration of gas and oil. Among the sectors removed from the list are, in addition to the operation and development of oil and gas fields, the supply of natural gas to cities over 500,000 inhabitants; the exploration and extraction of minerals such as molybdenum, used for the production of steel alloys. The list, explains the Italy-China Foundation’s Study Center, applies to investments both throughout the country and in the Free Trade Zone (free trade areas, from Shanghai to Chongqing) in the fishing and publishing sectors. In addition to this change there is another reform taking place: the list of encouraged operations in China, especially in the less developed areas of the West, is being revised. With this document, the government is also promoting investments in highly technological sectors, from 5G to robotics to electric vehicles, in addition to the pharmaceutical sector and services. But the degree of China's economic openness, the Foundation says, is still lagging behind the OECD average. Moreover, there are concerns among foreign companies about the saturation of some sectors of the market, as in the case of cinema, although it is the subject of new concessions.
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