(Yicai) July 18 -- China will equally support both Chinese and overseas businesses to participate in the country’s large-scale equipment upgrades and the trade-in of consumer goods, the vice minister of commerce said yesterday at a meeting for foreign-invested enterprises on the interpretation of the policy.

Both Chinese and overseas firms will also be encouraged to bid for government procurement contracts and project investment, Ling Ji said at the meeting which was attended by representatives from many overseas companies, such as Dutch electronics giant Philips, US carmaker Ford and German medical tech firm Siemens Healthineers, as well as chambers of commerce from several countries and regions, including the US, Europe, South Korea and Japan.

China will unswervingly promote high-level opening up and optimize the business environment, Ling said. It is hoped that foreign-funded enterprises will seize these opportunities, deepen their presence in the Chinese market and increase their investment in China, he added.

In March, the State Council issued an action plan for promoting large-scale equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins to spur consumption. Since then, many government departments have rolled out programs to implement the scheme. The Ministry of Finance has allocated in advance more than CNY6.4 billion (USD882.2 million) of central fiscal funds to support the trade-in of old cars for new ones.

The National Development and Reform Commission has put aside funds from the central budget to support key projects involving equipment renewal, energy conservation and carbon reduction, as well as recycling and the reuse of resources. While the People's Bank of China said it will extend additional loans for scientific innovation and technological transformation.

China’s consumer market continued to expand in the first half with the total retail sales of consumer goods climbing 3.7 percent from the year before to CNY23.6 trillion (USD3.2 trillion), according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Editor: Kim Taylor