Work report: Tianjin strengthens coordinated development

Tianjin will upgrade its efforts to boost the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Mayor Zhang Gong said in delivering the government work report during the ongoing local two sessions on Wednesday.

He noted that more solid steps in "declustering" the industrial burden of Beijing and promoting quality development of Tianjin's industrial parks are in the pipeline.

Over the past five years, great achievements have been made in implementing strategies to coordinate development in the region, while more efforts will be added to boost the manufacturing, high-tech innovation and modern service sectors, he said.

"Last year, 1,406 companies with 318 new large-sized projects from Beijing came to Tianjin, luring a combined capital of 172.1 billion yuan ($25.5 billion)," he said.

The Beijing-Tangshan intercity rail and northern section of the Beijing-Harbin intercity rail both began operation in late December.

Companies moving from Beijing's high-tech hub, Zhongguancun, to Tianjin's Binhai-Zhongguancun and Baodi-Zhongguancun industrial parks, hit 5,080 last year.

The development agenda in 2023 will actively promote cooperation in the key fields of information technology, biomedicine, digital economy and shipping services, he said.

He also reiterated that more technology and innovation projects are expected to be industrialized and commercialized, and collaboration of ports and free trade zones in the region will be deepened.

Echoing the mayor, Yin Xiangjie, a deputy to the city's People's Congress and Party secretary of Baodi district, which is a key transportation hub, said Baodi will benefit from its key transportation position connecting the Chinese capital with nearby Hebei province thanks to the newly opened two city rails with Baodi as the hub.

The district is expected to see three industrial clusters emerge in the next few years, including the country's advanced manufacturing, battery and automotive parts sectors, he said.

To date, Zhongguancun's advanced high-tech and innovation resources have brought in 248 key projects each with 50 million yuan to the district

"Baodi will speed up its efforts to push the projects in solid progress," he said. "In 2023, national-level, small and medium-sized enterprises in the sci-tech sector will hit 240 and national-level high-tech companies will reach 300," he said.

Ji Youhu, a member of Tianjin's Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee, and a professor at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics advised that more coordination in the region's education and technological research sectors is needed to catch up with rapid investment.

He said he expects the region will see more partnerships in those fields designed to sustainably support economic growth.