On August 15, the reporter learned from the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission that the Sichuan Province Business Environment Evaluation Report 2023 was released, with a total of four cities achieving excellent grades, namely, Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang and Suining.

In recent years, the provincial Party committee and provincial government have consistently prioritized the development of a first-class business environment. From April to June, the Provincial Development and Reform Commission legally entrusted a third-party evaluation agency to conduct the 2023 business environment assessment for the province's 21 cities (prefectures). This year, Sichuan Province is engaged in its sixth consecutive annual business environment evaluation. Compared to previous years, this year's evaluation introduces innovations and breakthroughs in both the indicator system and methodology. The focus has been narrowed to four key areas: government affairs, the rule of law, essential factors, and innovation. The indicator system has been optimized to include four primary indicators and 20 secondary indicators. The evaluation process is now more comprehensive, incorporating data collection, verification, on-site inspections (both announced and unannounced), surveys, and expert interviews, among other approaches, all aimed at providing a thorough assessment of the business environment across different regions of the province.

The evaluation report discloses that, in terms of overall performance by cities (prefectures), the 2023 assessment recognizes four cities (prefectures) with excellent grades: Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang, and Suining; fifteen cities (prefectures) received good grades: Zigong, Panzhihua, Luzhou, Guangyuan, Neijiang, Leshan, Nanchong, Yibin, Guang'an, Dazhou, Bazhong, Ya'an, Meishan, Ziyang, and Liangshan Prefecture; and two cities (prefectures) were rated as average: Aba Prefecture and Ganzi Prefecture.

Based on the actual experiences of business entities in various cities (prefectures), the province's "business entity satisfaction" score stands at 81.81, an increase of 0.89 percentage points from the 2022 evaluation.

When comparing data from 2020 to 2023, several indicators have shown notable improvements. The average processing time for administrative approvals of general social investment projects across the province has been cut by 50.74 percent compared to 2021. The time needed for water and gas installation has been reduced by 26.1 and 24.7 working days, respectively, since 2020. The average duration to settle sales contract disputes has been shortened by 153.9 days since 2020. The average trial period for bankruptcy cases throughout the province has decreased by 3.5 months from 2022. Furthermore, the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people has risen by 2.74 since 2021.