State Council executive meetings are seen as a political weather vane, so it may thus be meaningful to explore why some topics are discussed at specific times.

Three seemingly irrelevant topics were mentioned at the executive meeting on Aug 19.

Premier Li Keqiang described the first topic as being “mainly about how to reduce the overall cost of logistics.” This is a long existing problem which affects not only enterprises but also the whole of society.

It is estimated that if the percentage of overall expenditure on logistics in GDP drops one percentage point, 300 billion yuan economic benefits can be created.

The Premier said that there are too many procedures and too many barriers, such as unreasonable fines, inspections, charges and misuse of administrative power.

Regarding the second topic, Premier Li said that the innovation of big data industry mainly depends on the market and internet companies, and there are two things the government should pay attention to: One is to clear the barrier between different ministries and different data platforms, and the second concerns publishing government data for public benefit.

The third topic is often discussed at the executive meeting - tax reduction for small and micro-sized enterprises.

The number of newly registered companies each month remains high, and if these companies survive and operate well, they can help boost employment.