Taiyuan sets sights on expanding opening-up

Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, will focus on building a new highland in inland China for opening-up and fostering growth in foreign trade and foreign investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

According to Gao Yicheng, director of Taiyuan bureau of commerce, the city's key tasks for opening-up in the next five years include accelerating the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Bohai Sea Rim and provinces and cities in the Yellow River basin, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Other tasks include undertaking industrial transfers and furthering business cooperation with surrounding areas.

Taiyuan will optimize the utilization of foreign investment, expand foreign investment and provide convenient services for local enterprises to go global. Industry-leading enterprises with strong international competitiveness will also be cultivated.

The city plans to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, develop a number of independent export brands and expand emerging overseas markets.

In addition, it will further develop cross-border e-commerce, speed up the reform and innovation of development zones and the construction of international cooperation parks in the Shanxi Transformation and Comprehensive Reform Demonstration Zone.

Here are Taiyuan's specific goals for the current year:

1. The total value of imports and exports this year will increase by 18.3 percent year-on-year to 143.37 billion yuan ($21.95 billion) and the utilization of foreign capital will reach $100 million.

2. Taiyuan will set up a special municipal-level fund of 20 million yuan for the stable development of foreign trade.

3. The city will stabilize the scale of imports and exports and further incubate and cultivate new foreign trade enterprises.

4. It will promote the construction of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot area and launch designated supervision sites for imported fruits and frozen aquatic products. It will also launch trial operations of the used-car-export business and promote the application of the B2B export supervision pilot city and service outsourcing pilot city.

5. Taiyuan will pay close attention to the layout of Fortune Global 500 enterprises, target key emerging industries and leading enterprises, introduce iconic and influential projects and add more high-quality and technology-oriented foreign-invested projects.