Yangtze River Delta region boasts steady economic progress in Q1

The Yangtze River Delta region, which consists of Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, is one of the largest economic entities in China.

With the four areas realizing economic growth of 17.6, 19.2, 19.5, and 18.7 percent respectively in the first quarter of this year, the region generated 6 trillion yuan ($932.3 billion) in GDP, accounting for 24.55 percent of the country's total.

This impressive achievement is a result of the four areas' concerted efforts in implementing the national YRD integration strategy by leveraging their advantages in fields like infrastructure, industrial cooperation, environmental protection, and public services.

For example, in terms of infrastructure, construction of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou and Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou railways has been expedited. In terms of industrial collaboration, the G60 Science and Innovation Corridor, a high-tech industry zone spanning nine cities, has set up 13 industrial alliances and 11 industrial cooperation demonstration parks.

With regard to public services, Boon Sing Ang, a Malaysian business executive who lives and works in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, became the first nonresident expat to receive a Shanghai residence card for foreign talent in February.

Meanwhile, the region has also been seeking breakthroughs in digital transformation for areas such as production, daily life and social governance. For example, the region has built 186 industrial internet platforms, and the five by Baosight, Hanyun, and Alibaba Cloud were ranked by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2020 as leading cross-industry and cross-field industrial internet platforms.

The region has also published guide books on the integration of digital transformation with its traditional strength in information technology and advanced manufacturing.

Statistics show that the added value of the manufacturing industry, the core industry of Zhejiang's digital economy, grew by 47.1 percent year-on-year from January to March, helping boost the growth of the added value for local above-designated-size enterprises to 6.1 percent.