Hebei province says it will provide financial support for small-to-mid-sized enterprises to get them into emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and elsewhere.
In the first half of this year, the province's exports to 28 emerging markets were worth $5.71 billion, an increase of 15.5 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 38.3 percent of its total trade volume, for a rise of 4.6 percent year-on-year.
To get small and mid-sized companies into emerging markets, the province plans to put some money into activities that help them develop their foreign trade, for example, by just encouraging them to make the move out. It will back any enterprise that wants to go abroad for exhibitions or investigations and will assist enterprises in applying for patents in foreign countries or in purchasing technology and skills abroad. Enterprises are being encouraged to develop their own brands and the government will help them spread their image in emerging markets.
Any Hebei company can apply for the program and their name will be listed online for greater publicity. To guarantee the proper use of capitalist funds, the government will force businesses and the financial sectors to keep a close eye on the money, with transparency and legality. Of the provincial Commerce and Finance Departments will also closely check the programs of companies applying for funds. If local governments that have funds don’t use them to help their small to mid-sized enterprises effectively in emerging markets, the amount of capital will be cut. |
