Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 18 (Reporters Tang Shining and Zhang Xinxin) The reporter learned from the regular press conference on economic data held by the State Information Office on the 18th that in the first quarter, the economic operation of my country's small and medium-sized enterprises was generally stable and steady, and the added value of small and medium-sized enterprises above designated size increased by 8.2% year-on-year.

"Enterprise production enthusiasm has increased, and its operating efficiency has grown steadily, demonstrating the development resilience and vitality of small and medium-sized enterprises, and has strongly supported the steady start of the industrial economy." Xie Shaofeng, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology focuses on the pain points and difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises, and strives to promote the "two optimizations and two promotions" to vigorously support the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

"Two optimizations" refer to optimizing the business environment and optimizing services to assist enterprises. Focusing on the issue of defaulting on funds from small and medium-sized enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has promoted the revision of the "Regulations on Guaranteeing the Payment of Funds from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises", further clarifying the payment deadline for funds, and increasing the intensity of illegal penalties. Jointly carried out the "One Good Enterprise" small and medium-sized enterprise service action, and proposed 73 specific service measures; further improved the "one network" for China's small and medium-sized enterprise services, etc.

"Two promotions" refer to promoting the development of specialized, specialized and innovative development and promoting the development of industrial clusters. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized a specific portrait and comprehensive assessment of more than 100,000 specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises to help enterprises increase financing and credit; and guide local governments to increase gradient cultivation and service efforts. 300 national-level small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industrial clusters have been cultivated and identified, and more than 1,100 provincial clusters have been promoted in various places. In 2024, the national clusters have created a total output value of 8.7 trillion yuan, and the average annual growth rate of output value in the past three years has reached 13%.

Xie Shaofeng said that in the next step, we will adhere to the principle of giving equal importance to service and management, and the development and assistance at the same time, continue to improve the legal and policy system, public service system, and high-quality enterprise gradient cultivation system, strengthen digital transformation, talent attraction and cultivation, investment and financing services, and strongly support the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises.