Opening Up Drives Development
In March, the State Council approved the establishment of a high-quality development demonstration zone of the old revolutionary base in west Fujian Province, an area that includes Longyan City. The area was a revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China in the 1930s. This has generated many opportunities for Longyan’s development. How will the city use these strategic opportunities to integrate itself into overall regional development and accelerate the revitalization of old revolutionary bases?
Continuing to open up internationally is an important part of Longyan’s development strategy. The city vows to integrate into the new development paradigm and serve as a bridge between domestic and international markets. It promotes collaboration with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in building an industrial cooperation pilot zone, and carries out cooperation with Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, which has been designated as a partner of Longyan by the Central Government. It also actively participates in the coordinated development of Fujian’s southwest area.
In recent years, the city has promoted innovation-driven development and industrial transformation, boosted effective investment, and improved its business environment and urban development through expanded opening up.
Longyan received the approval to establish a national-level base for the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade in the gold and copper industries, initiated innovative measures for financial institutions to support foreign trade development, and established a coordination mechanism to improve the efficiency of customs clearance for the import and export of goods.
The development of foreign trade in Longyan has been rapid. In 2021, total import and export of goods in the city totaled 50.8 billion yuan ($7.03 billion). Of these, exports reached 31.7 billion yuan ($4.38 billion), 1.4 times the 2012 figure, with an average annual growth of 10.2 percent. In the same year, the city exported 6.82 billion yuan ($943.29 million) worth of goods to the participating countries and regions of the Belt and Road Initiative, up by 17.8 percent from 2012. In the past decade, Longyan signed 347 contracts with foreign investors, with a total contract value of $3.38 billion.
In the meantime, Longyan is steadily advancing its overseas investment, especially in Belt and Road countries. To date, the city has approved and registered 55 projects of overseas investment, mainly in 12 countries, with a total investment value of $4.6 billion. Of these, the $1.52-billion copper mine project invested by Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. in Serbia is China’s largest investment project in Serbia.
Major breakthroughs have been achieved in developing new forms of business. In April 2020, the State Council approved the establishment of the China (Longyan) CrossBorder E-Commerce Pilot Zone. Over the past two years, the city has been exploring new models and paths for the development of cross-border e-commerce. To date, a total of 106 cross-border e-commerce enterprises have been registered in Longyan.
On April 29, Longyan’s first China-Europe freight train departed from the city’s Shanghang Railway Station. Prior to the launch, Longyan has mainly relied on ocean shipping in its international trade. So far, five freight trains have traveled to Europe from Longyan, carrying goods worth of 96.13 million yuan ($13.3 million).
Longyan now maintains foreign trade exchanges with 151 countries and regions. Since 2010, the city has been rated as one of China’s Top 100 Foreign Trade Cities 10 times by China Customs magazine.
How has Longyan, an inland mountain city, achieved such remarkable results in opening up to the world? The answer lies in the rapid improvement of both its hardware—transport facilities, and its software—the business environment.
The smooth passage of goods ensures the prosperity of foreign trade. In recent years, Longyan has been accelerating the construction of transportation infrastructure connecting both domestic and international markets. At present, a railway network with two north-to-south and one east-to-west lines
are nearing completion in Longyan, connecting all the counties of the city. All the villages in the city now have access to highways, which connect Longyan with the main routes to the Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta. The continuous improvement of the transportation network of railways, highways and aviation facilities further boosts the development of Longyan.
A sound business environment is the core competitiveness of a city. In recent years, Longyan has made great efforts to improve its business environment in order to stimulate the vitality of its market players and support high-quality development. In 2021, the city ranked third in terms of business environment among all Fujian cities.
Enterprises i nvesting i n Longyan i nclude engineering machinery giant Lonking, which has invested $500 million in seven enterprises in the city. China Resources, a diversified holding conglomerate, has invested in 10 enterprises in the city, with a total investment of nearly $800 million. In 2021, 21,691 enterprises were newly established in Longyan, a yearon-year increase of 69 percent, the highest in Fujian; 440 investment contracts were newly signed, with a total investment of 88 billion yuan ($12.17 billion).
Longyan has proposed to take the lead in turning the city into a model for the revitalization and development of old
revolutionary bases.
It will create a top-ranking business environment by continuing the reforms to delegate power, streamline administration and optimize government services to foster a businessfriendly environment and stimulate the vitality of the private economy.
It will also create a first-class transport network, with priority given to major transport infrastructure projects such as the new Longyan Airport, the Wuping-Meizhou section of the Longyan-Longchuan High-Speed Railway and the GanzhouLongyan-Xiamen High-Speed Railway.
To further its opening up to the world, it will continue to operate the China-Europe freight trains, strengthen trade cooperation with countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes, advance the construction of the Longyan Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone and build a logistics and supply chain center in the Fujian-Guangdong-Jiangxi region. Longyan will also continue to host exchange events with Taiwan such as a machinery expo and an agriculture forum, and support the establishment of a cross-Straits agricultural integration demonstration zone.
Leveraging high-quality development through all-round opening up, Longyan will continue to surge forward with vitality.