PR100091

HANGZHOU, China, May 19, 2023 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

In China's eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, the port stands witness to the

boom of trade, while the pulse of investment could be taken on an annual

symposium.

The five-day 24th China Zhejiang Investment & Trade Symposium (ZJITS) kicked

off on May 16 in Ningbo, a coastal city in Zhejiang. In addition, the 3rd

China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair was held at the same time,

according to the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province.

The event's active registration, rich activities and robust exchanges have

witnessed the enthusiasm and expectation of global investors for Zhejiang, an

open highland in China.

From an investment & trade event to high-level opening-up platform

The ZJITS has witnessed the magnificent course of the province's open economy

development and is an important window for the world to observe the trends of

Zhejiang's investment and trade.

The ZJITS started in 1999, the first International Consumer Goods Fair was held

in 2002, and the first China-CEEC Expo was held in 2019, which is the only

national-level institutional exhibition facing CEEC. Gradually the three events

formed a grand opening-up exchange platform, creating the most important

carrier for Zhejiang to deepen foreign trade and economic cooperation on all

fronts.

As an important platform for Zhejiang's foreign economic and trade exchanges,

the ZJITS has been held for 24 sessions. Since the China-CEEC Expo was elevated

to a national-level institutional exhibition, the ZJITS has gained more

influence.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic had not dampened the enthusiasm for investment and

trade with Zhejiang at home and abroad. In 2020, the 22nd ZJITS was held online

for the first time, inking a total investment of 13.7 billion U.S. dollars. In

2021, the 23rd ZJITS saw the signing of 80 projects with a total investment of

15.1 billion U.S. dollars.

The 24th ZJITS not only has a main forum focusing on investment in Zhejiang, 6

matching exchanges and supporting activities, and over 100 investment promotion

activities jointly held by governments at all levels of the province, but also

introduced new measures of opening up and promotion such as fund investment,

pilot opening of service industry, introduced successful experience of foreign

enterprises investing in Zhejiang, and carried out multi-party dialogues among

government, enterprises and institutions to share new opportunities for

investment and cooperation.

The main forum alone attracted more than 150 guests from over 30 countries and

regions at home and abroad, including Fortune 500 enterprises, multinational

industry leaders, international investment promotion agencies, intermediary

consulting companies, well-known business associations and representatives of

some other provinces and cities.

"The business environment in Zhejiang is very good. I have been deeply

impressed by Zhejiang's service efficiency in both project implementation and

actual operation, which makes us choose to continue to increase our local

presence," said attendee Julia Mateos Caro, general manager of Sanofi's

Hangzhou plant.

From introduction of foreign investment to going global by local firms

The increasingly rich activities and growing platform of the ZJITS reflect the

transformation of Zhejiang Province from a foreign trade hub to an opening-up

powerhouse.

Opening-up has always been a major priority of Zhejiang's development. In July

2003, Zhejiang promoted the implementation of the development strategy that

calls for provincial authorities to make full use of the province's eight key

advantages. The strategy has led the overall development of the whole province

since then, and proposed to continuously improve the level of opening-up.

In the past ten years, the actual utilization of foreign capital in Zhejiang

increased from 8.33 billion U.S. dollars to 19.3 billion U.S. dollars, with an

annual average growth of 8.8 percent, and the accumulative actual utilization

of foreign capital reached 141.97 billion U.S. dollars.

In January this year, Zhejiang proposed to accelerate the building of a

high-level open province. It seeks to adhere to the organic unity of going

global and investment introduction, and promote the upgrading of industrial

chain and supply chain system of leading industries, domestic and foreign trade

competitiveness, important open platforms and enterprises.

The province aims to build a more resilient, dynamic and competitive "sweet

potato economy" that features open development going beyond a city, the

province and even the country.

Like a sweet potato whose vines spread out in all directions to absorb more

light, rain, and nutrients, so that the tubers that support the roots can grow

bigger and bigger, Zhejiang has seen many local economies thrive via open

development.

The province is home to the business-minded Wenzhou City, the overseas Chinese

merchants hometown Qingtian City, world supermarket of small commodities Yiwu

City and global textile hub Keqiao District in Shaoxing City.

In 2022, a total of 934 going-global enterprises and institutions were

registered and approved in Zhejiang, an increase of 16.5 percent over the

previous year. The registered foreign direct investment amounted to 13 billion

U.S. dollars, up 45 percent year on year.

In Yuecheng District of Zhejiang's Shaoxing City, open development has become

the consensus of local enterprises. Since the beginning of this year, Yuecheng

has organized more than 560 enterprises to participate in 16 domestic and

overseas exhibitions such as the intertextile in Shanghai and Hong Kong Fashion

Week, and obtained intended orders with value exceeding 250 million U.S.

dollars.

Meanwhile, more and more local enterprises are making high-quality global

investment around the industrial chain. Sleemon, a Yuecheng-based firm

producing high-quality furniture such as mattresses, is stepping up its

going-global efforts. In addition to continuing investment in Safin

manufacturing base in Thailand, it has also opened an overseas design center.

Currently, the company's European design center is in operation in Milan.

From commodity and factor flow to institutional opening-up

In addition to going global and introducing investment led by cities and

enterprises, Zhejiang is also keen on integrating into the country's overall

opening-up blueprint, embracing a new round of high-level opening-up with

institutional reform and innovation.

A number of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation pilot zones

have sprung up in various parts of Zhejiang.

For example, Ningbo is China's first demonstration zone for economic and trade

cooperation between China and CEEC. Hangzhou is a national comprehensive pilot

for expanding the opening-up of the service sector. Wenzhou Ouhai District has

been listed as a national innovation demonstration zone for promoting import.

Six cities, including Jiaxing, have been designated as demonstration zones for

high-level opening-up and cooperation with RCEP countries.

China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, as the main driver of promoting the

province's institutional opening-up, took the lead in expanding the pilot area

in China, with 477 institutional innovation achievements made since its

establishment in 2017. Among them, 149 pioneering achievements have been

practiced across Zhejiang, and 37 innovative cases have been promoted across

the country, facilitating the continuous optimization of the opening-up

business environment in Zhejiang and beyond.

In order to promote Zhejiang's opening-up via digital economy, the Forum on

China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone DEPA and International Commodity Supply

Chain (Beilun) was held.

The event also saw the launch of the upgrading action for China (Zhejiang)

Pilot Free Trade Zone, the launch of the green trade initiative, the launch of

DEPA benchmarking action, and the establishment of the enterprise innovation

alliance, which together seek to explore more possibilities for the pilot FTZ

to link with the world by leveraging digital economy.

Source: The Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=440811

   Caption: Signing contracts of major foreign investment projects and the launch of a fund

focusing on investment in Zhejiang were held during the Forum on Investing in

Zhejiang.