BEIJING (Reuters) - China has accelerated the process of freeing up inbound foreign investment by compiling a list of industries deemed to be off-limits, a high-ranking economic planning official said on Tuesday.
In two-way talks in Beijing last week, China and the United States pledged to exchange by early 2015 "negative lists" of sectors closed to foreign investment, with the implication of unrestricted investment in other areas.
"Right now, research work on the negative lists is being accelerated," Gu Dawei, deputy director general of top economic planner the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a news conference in Beijing.
"The goal is to broaden the inflow of foreign investments and let China receive better access to global capital."
The United States and China have sought since 2008 to sign a sweeping bilateral investment treaty that would open up Chinese sectors to U.S. investors, and presumably other foreign capital in due course.
Talks have been fitful since President Barack Obama took office but resumed in July after China dropped blanket curbs on certain sectors, especially those in the service industry.
A draft proposal the NDRC circulated this month prior to Obama's visit showed that sectors such as oil refining and insurance brokerage would be opened up, but it listed permitted sectors rather than the negative list foreign investors sought.
Besides easing inbound investment, regulators have also been slashing rules on Chinese investment in overseas companies, which is expected to reach $120 billion (77 billion pounds) in 2014, officials said.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih and Li He; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)