Weekly policy snapshot of Chinese economy

BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The following are the key moves taken by policymakers in the past week to enhance China's economic strength and sustainability:

-- foreign Investment Law adopted

China's national legislature on Friday passed the foreign Investment Law, a landmark legislation that will provide stronger protection and a better business environment for overseas investors.

It aims to improve the transparency of foreign Investment policies and ensure that foreign-invested enterprises participate in market competition on an equal basis.

The state will manage foreign Investment according to the system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list, the Law stipulates.

foreign-invested enterprises will equally enjoy government policies supporting enterprise development, and be able to participate in standard-setting on an equal footing and in government procurement through fair competition, according to the Law.

-- Generating over 11 million new urban jobs in 2019

China vowed to ensure the creation of more than 11 million new urban jobs this year.

"In actual practice, our goal is to generate the same amount of job opportunities as we did last year, which is over 13 million," Premier Li Keqiang told a press conference after the conclusion of the annual session of China's national legislature Friday.

China will work to ensure the employment of college graduates, whose number will reach a new high of 8.34 million this year. It will prevent zero-employment families and provide more policy support to companies that hire more people.

-- Larger tax and fee cuts

Premier Li Keqiang said Friday that the country was determined to implement larger scale tax and fee cuts this year as a key countermeasure against downward economic pressure.

The move is expected to deliver a dividend of nearly 2 trillion yuan (about 297 billion U.S. dollars) to companies.

China will cut value-added tax rates for manufacturing and other basic sectors, as well as for small and medium-sized companies, the largest providers of jobs in the country.

-- More financial support for startups

China's finance ministry has called for more financial support from local governments for startups to direct funds to cash-starved businesses.

The Ministry of Finance has required local governments to lower the requirements of applying for entrepreneurship guaranteed loans and bear interest subsidies.