'Going global' needs govt support

The government should provide more support for Chinese enterprises that are going global, the top executive of a leading private conglomerate said on Monday.

Liang Xinjun, chief executive officer of Fosun Group, said the overall outlook for outbound direct investment from China is still bright, with the number of deals being made by Chinese companies rising in tandem with the growth in overseas consumption. Financial enterprises should use this opportunity and spread their wings further, Liang said at the Shanghai Forum, which ended on Monday.

Urging the government to lend more support to the overseas financial bodies owned by Chinese companies, Liang said it would help bring in more investment for projects that can improve people's livelihood and help in infrastructure construction.

"Specifically, the government should improve the approval process for Chinese companies issuing US dollar, Japanese yen and Euro debt. The current procedures are very complicated and lengthy, which has restrained Chinese companies from raising money in overseas markets," Liang said.

Meanwhile, the government should also consider more measures to encourage investment from overseas Chinese enterprises in sectors like healthcare, elderly care, environmental protection and logistics, he said.

In addition, steps are necessary to streamline the registration, authentication and import procedures, to support the overseas consumption services owned by Chinese companies as well as projects involved in manufacturing upgrades.

One of the key topics that came up for discussion at the forum was to how to promote the country's Belt and Road Initiative.

The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, which aim to strengthen connectivity between Asian, European and African countries.

Though many Chinese companies are expecting to be part of the initiative, experts said that the government still has a lot of work to do to encourage firms to go global.

Guan Tao, a senior researcher from China Finance 40 Forum, an academic organization, said: "The government should promote trade, deepen financial cooperation ... and strengthen multilateral cooperation, so as to create a favorable environment for Chinese companies to be part of the initiative."

Liang said private enterprises have an indispensable role to play in the Belt and Road Initiative, and in implementing related major infrastructure construction projects.

He said State-owned firms and financial bodies should work with Chinese private companies which have rich overseas investment and operation experiences to jointly go global for further development through "mixed mechanisms".