TANGSHAN, China, May 23, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:
Hebei province is deepening
opening-up by promoting foreign trade and outbound investment, as
well as by more deeply participating in the Belt and Road
Initiative, on its path to high-quality development, according to
Ni Yuefeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the
Communist Party of China.
The province has a coastline stretching 487 kilometers, with the
three coastal cities — Qinhuangdao, Tangshan and Cangzhou — serving
as hubs of the Circum-Bohai Sea region linking Northeast Asia.
Hebei has unique geographical
advantages and convenient maritime transportation, with favorable
conditions for developing an outward-oriented economy.
The cargo throughput of Tangshan Port exceeded 800 million
metric tons for the first time in 2023 and exceeded 200 million
tons in the first quarter of this year, ranking second in the
world.
Hebei has added 10 new domestic
container trade routes and four foreign trade routes since last
year, opening routes to the Russian Far East, Vietnam and Thailand.
"We will solidly promote the transformation and upgrading of
ports and the integration of resources, as well as expand domestic
and international trade routes," Ni said.
"In addition, based on platforms such as development zones, free
trade zones and comprehensive bonded zones, we've taken measures to
make customs clearance quicker and more convenient."
Hebei's imports and exports
increased 7.4 percent last year and 15 percent in the first quarter
of this year. Exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and
photovoltaic products increased rapidly.
Major cooperative projects have been carried out between
Hebei and regions participating in
the BRI.
Hebei Iron and Steel Group Co, one of the world's largest
steel-makers, purchased Smederevo Steel Plant in Serbia in 2016,
turning it from a loss-making company to a profitable one, and
securing more than 5,000 jobs.
This year, Wu'an Xinfeng Circular Economy Industrial Investment
Development Co signed a contract for a 2-million-ton hot-rolled
coil project in Egypt.
In April, the China-Europe
freight train that departed from Shijiazhuang arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, establishing a major land
logistics channel.
Last year, Hebei reached
agreements for investments totaling $480
million with countries involved in the BRI, accounting for
38.1 percent of the province's total outbound investment.
"In the future, we will further comprehensively deepen reforms,
promote high-level opening-up, accelerate the construction of a
strong economy and a beautiful Hebei, and strive to compose a chapter in the
modernization of China with a
Hebei perspective," Ni said.
Under the country's move to promote the integrated development
of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei
region, the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei is a major recipient of noncapital
functions from Beijing.
"Xiong'an New Area has entered a phase of large-scale
construction and is undertaking noncapital functions from
Beijing," Ni said. "We will
further improve relocation policies, optimize institutional
mechanisms, and extensively attract domestic and foreign
participants and capital to participate in its construction and
development, striving to build it into a high-level modern
city."
As of now, the number of institutions transferred from
Beijing and Tianjin to Hebei exceeds 40,000.Since last year, there
has been a historic breakthrough in the introduction of second- and
third-tier subsidiaries of State-owned enterprises from
Beijing, driving both industry and
employment growth, Ni said.
The province also established platforms for the matching of
technology, industry and finance, to accelerate incubation of
technological achievements and their application in the market, he
added.
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SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn