Hangzhou Hi-Tech Zone sets record in outbound investment in 2018

The Hangzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (HHTZ) in Binjiang district has been playing a leading role not only in introducing foreign enterprises and high-caliber talents, but also helping local enterprises invest or expand overseas, local media reported on March 7.

Official statistics show that the outbound investment by Chinese enterprises in the zone set a record high last year with around $4.48 billion, a year-on-year increase of 588 percent and ranking top in the province.

Meanwhile, HHTZ also experienced an upsurge in its foreign trade exports with 45.4 billion yuan ($6.77 billion) in self-operated export last year, a 14.5 percent increase from a year earlier. Mechanical and electrical products and high-tech products were the most popular, the exports of which accounted for 81 percent and 60 percent of the total respectively and ranking first in Hangzhou.

A total of 61 overseas investment projects were registered and 49 newly launched last year. The newly approved overseas investment projects have covered increasingly diversified fields, including sectors of intelligent healthcare, internet of things, intelligent manufacturing and e-commerce.

Investment in information technology-driven industries accounted for more than 80 percent of the total figures.

Regionally, as a response to the Belt and Road Initiative, the zone has invested in 51 countries including Peru, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

Chint Group, China's leading industrial electrical equipment and new-energy enterprise, settled in HHTZ in 2006. Over the years, the Zhejiang-based company has been continuously expanding its presence in foreign markets and has built more than 100 photovoltaic power plants in Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria, South Africa and among others.

Last year, the group contracted with the Saudi Arabian power developer Acwa Power to develop three solar photovoltaic power plants in Aswan province, Egypt. The project, with a total investment value of $190 million, was one of the 11 overseas investment projects in HHTZ that was worth more than $10 million last year.