On the morning of December 20, the State Council conducted its fifth thematic study session under the theme "Creating a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, and continuously stimulating market vitality and social creativity." Premier Li Qiang of the State Council presided over the session.Xi. Luo Peixin, a professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, gave a lecture. Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and State Councilors Wang Xiaohong and Wu Zhenglong made speeches during the discussion.

After listening to the lecture and exchange speeches, Li Qiang pointed out that optimizing the business environment is a key measure to cultivate and stimulate market vitality and enhance endogenous driving force for development. It is necessary to thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions and instructions on optimizing the business environment, always adhere to a problem-oriented and demand-driven approach, accelerate reforms in key areas and critical sectors, and persistently strive to build a first-class market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, providing strong support for promoting high-quality development.

Li Qiang pointed out that through long-term unremitting efforts, China's business environment has continued to improve, and the sense of fulfillment among the public and enterprises has grown stronger. At the same time, it must be recognized that there is no best, only better when it comes to the business environment. In the next step, efforts should focus on further enhancing market-oriented practices to better uphold fair competition, supporting the growth of enterprises under all forms of ownership equally, accelerating the development of a unified national market, and intensifying efforts to eliminate regulations and practices that hinder a unified market and fair competition, thereby ensuring fair participation in competition for all types of enterprises. Efforts should also center on further elevating the rule of law to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of all market entities, continuously improving the legal and regulatory system, enforcing laws strictly, impartially, and civilly, standardizing the discretionary power in administrative penalties, innovating regulatory approaches, enhancing regulatory efficiency, and fostering a stable, transparent, standardized, and predictable legal environment. Additionally, work should aim at further advancing internationalization to better promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, strengthening alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules, leveraging the stress-testing role of platforms such as pilot free trade zones, and generating more pioneering and landmark institutional innovations.

Li Qiang pointed out that improving government services is not only an important part of optimizing the business environment, but also essential for strengthening government self-improvement and effectively transforming functions to enhance efficiency. It is necessary to respond to the growing demands of the public and businesses for upgraded government services by introducing more effective measures to "efficiently accomplish one thing," ensuring that people and enterprises experience tangible improvements year after year. Efforts should be made to leverage the national integrated government service platform to institutionalize the enhancement of service efficiency, further refine mechanisms, optimize processes, improve online and offline service channels, and fully utilize new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to continuously elevate the standardization, normalization, and convenience of government services.