• Sector:
  Governance
• Project name:
  Provision of Policy and Regulatory Advice to the State Development Planning Commission
• Name of client:
  The State Development Planning Commission, PRC

Description of project:
This project provides technical assistance to strengthen the capacities of national and provincial level personnel associated with the State Development Planning Commission. The activities will be consistent with SDPC’s systemic and procedural transformation strategies. Workshops were hosted in Beijing by the SDPC, and in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra for SDPC participants. A final workshop will be hosted by SDPC in China. The proposed activity will contribute to the CCBP's component objective of supporting the development and implementation of policies that promote an open and competitive environment.

Major achievements:
The Chinese participants have reinforced and tested previously held views and modified some of their attitudes in the following key areas

• The Australian team noted that there is a clear recognition that national and regional capital formation can be financed and funded in a variety of ways. It would be severely limiting to believe that only one method is optimal in all circumstances. The private sector clearly has a role. The Chinese planners and those with whom they subsequently come into contact are now better able to appreciate the occasions when such approaches are worth consideration
• A 'level playing field' between competing government and private enterprises is seen as a strong guarantee of economically optimal solutions. Strong independent regulators are an essential prerequisite to relying on the market as an engine of economic growth and progress. The Australian experiences have confirmed this
• Privatisation and selective reliance on out contracting are now acknowledged as highly appropriate means of relieving fiscal pressures and simultaneously improving the efficiency of public service provision. Participants can draw upon their Australian survey experiences and contacts in future exercises.
• emulation of the soundest features of private sector enterprises can help SOEs develop soundly producing needed goods and services at least cost
• recognition that Australian organisations are not standing organizationally, still but are actively advancing and trying new approaches all the time
• acknowledgement of the benefits in a market economy of having a legal system independent of government and capable of interpreting contractual obligations and seeing the contract’s provisions enforced is seen as an indispensable element of that invisible infrastructure