[Photo/VCG]

Suzhou's first foreign-invested company since China's new Foreign Investment Law came into effect was successfully registered in Taicang on Jan 3.

The company, Taicang Starlight Hospital Co, is a joint venture between a Hongkong enterprise and an investment management company in Suzhou.

Its registration marked a new chapter in Taicang's efforts to establish a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment that treats enterprises of all ownership equally.

The registration procedures were handled at the municipal bureau of administrative examination and the business certificate was granted within a work day.

China's new Foreign Investment Law, which came into effect on January 1, is a comprehensive and fundamental set of legal standards for foreign investment activities.

The new law has clear positions on the protection of foreign investors' rights regarding issues such as intellectual property rights protection and technology transfer that are of common concern to foreign investors.

It will make Taicang's business environment more open, equitable and transparent for foreign firms.

Statistics from the commerce bureau of Taicang showed that the county-level city is currently home to regional headquarters of 27 of world's top 500 multinational companies, 320 German enterprises, and over 3,500 foreign-invested enterprises.

From January to September, 2019, the city started 25 new manufacturing projects with $547 million worth of foreign investment, and 35 service projects with $466 million of foreign investment.