The municipality is undergoing a campaign to rectify 10 sectors, such as infrastructure, urban construction and administration, and government work efficiency, to battle regional protectionism and clear obstacles that restrain local economic development, Wang Yunlong said on Monday in Beijing.

Wang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, the local legislative body, is a deputy to the ongoing Fifth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress.

Chongqing enjoys all the preferential policies for foreign investment granted by the central government to the Pudong New Area of Shanghai.

But Wang believes preferential treatments are limited while a favorable investment environment can bring unlimited inflow of investment and talents.

Therefore, it is vital for the local government to create a market environment that is fair and open to all investors.

To achieve this goal, the local people's congress has been active in supervising local governmental departments and law enforcement sectors to further improve their working efficiency and foster an open and fair market environment.

Such an environment is backed by a complete local legal system, he said.

Since the municipality was established five years ago with the approval of the National People's Congress, the local people's congress has drafted and adopted 169 local laws and regulations, 52 per cent of which are related to economic issues, Wang said.

It indicates that the local legislative body focuses its work on economic construction, he said.

At the same time, the local people's congress has also abolished 70 local regulations to simplify the procedures for investment.

The municipality aims to develop itself into an economic center along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River by 2015.

(China Daily March 14, 2002)