Draft expected to ease investment access

The Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday that it plans to submit the draft of a foreign investment law to the National People's Congress, the country's legislative body, by the end of this year to further ease restrictions on foreign investors and grant them easier access to the Chinese market.

Among the ministry's priorities this year to put inflows of foreign direct investment on a firmer footing in China are measures to improve the domestic business environment, to adjust the industrial and regional development structure and to gain high-end technologies, Shen Danyang, the ministry's spokesman, told a news conference in Beijing.

Foreign direct investment in China rose last year by 6.4 percent year-on-year to $126.27 billion, according to ministry data. Foreign investment in the service industry rose by 17.3 percent, accounting for 61.1 percent of the flow.