Premier urges support for e-commerce

Innovative oversight helps companies improve their cross-border business

Greater policy support and innovative government oversight is needed to shore up the growth of cross-border e-commerce, Premier Li Keqiang said during an inspection trip to Zhejiang province on Wednesday and Thursday.

As he visited a pilot zone in Hangzhou, the premier underlined the role of cross-border e-commerce in enabling more businesses to take part directly in international trade.

He noted that the business model is a major trend for the future development of international trade, and it will help promote the integrated development of businesses of various sizes and benefit the upgrading and branding of domestic manufacturers.

China's total volume of imports and exports from cross-border e-commerce reached 134 billion yuan ($19.5 billion) in 2018, up 50 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The premier also urged more efforts to encourage the private sector to boost the development of services including elderly care, day care as well as domestic services.

More work must be done to renovate old residential communities and boost the growth of community services, which will help spur investment and consumption, and create jobs, he said.

He underscored the importance of ensuring the supply of drugs that are commonly used or for emergency rescue purposes, saying that shortages of supply or random price hikes for drugs must not be allowed.

The premier also visited the Dream Village, a major hub for startups and incubators in Hangzhou.

He noted that there are stories behind each statistic in the village, and innovation and entrepreneurship have transformed the ancient village. He expressed hope that there could be more similar townships across the country to help the creation of jobs and innovation.

To make administrative services more accessible, Li said reforms must be conducted to enable the services to be accessed via one website so that the public can be saved the trouble of making trips to government offices.