Good business environment
Wuhan in Central China’s Hubei province is on the right track to internationalization based on its sound economic foundation, favorable business environment and vast talent pool, according to local officials.
Covering some 8,500 square kilometers, Wuhan, as the center of an area along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is the largest water, land and air transport hub among inland cities across China.
With a 3,500-year history, good living environment and strong innovation capability, Wuhan is considered one of the top five metropolises in China following first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, according to a ranking of the top 100 cities of China released last year by the Warton Economic Research Institute. Wuhan is home to 89 universities and 1.2 million college students.
To further open itself up to the world, Wuhan is implementing more than 50 national plans and key pilot reforms covering China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and innovative experiment zones.
In 2018, Wuhan’s GDP was 1.48 trillion yuan ($221.5 billion), ranking ninth among all domestic cities.
The city’s above-scale industrial added value grew by 5.7 percent yearon-year, with the industrial investment soaring 12.1 percent annually.
In 2017, Wuhan launched a government plan to improve the efficiency of administrative examination and approval services, which has gained a good reputation among entrepreneurs and startups.
This year, the city will strive to become one of China’s best cities in terms of administrative services and business environment and to provide enterprises with stable policies and fair environment for competition through its innovative approach that is “conducting services immediately, online, nearby and on a one-time basis.
To expand the opening-up policy and make good use of foreign capital, the local government of Wuhan has launched 12 measures to facilitate the high-quality development of foreign investment, according to the city’s commercial bureau.
One key measure is to award a total of 5 million yuan to unicorn enterprises, each valued at more than $1 billion with registered assets surpassing $10 million. The city encourages foreign companies to invest in advanced manufacturing including memory controller circuits and cybersecurity, and services projects in areas such as information technology, modern logistics, creative design and business consulting.
Awarding agents is another measure that helps to further strengthen market-oriented investment promotion. The maximum amount is 2 million yuan for a single project.
Introducing foreign investment is a vital part of Wuhan’s economic development and a driving force for the city’s internationalization.
Those measures will improve the scale of Wuhan’s foreign capital utilization, optimize the city’s industrial structure and strengthen foreign companies’ technological and innovative capabilities, according to the commercial bureau.
In 2018, the actual utilization of foreign investment in Wuhan increased 13.3 percent year-on-year, attracting another 10 Fortune Global 500 companies and some 100 investment projects. To promote industrial transformation and the support for high-quality development, Wuhan is building four world-class industrial clusters in biomedical and medical devices, optoelectronics information, automobile and parts and environmental protection, as well as five national-level industrial bases for aviation, talent and innovation on cybersecurity, new energy and intelligent and connected vehicles and biomedical and medical devices.
To date, the integrated circuit industry has developed into a national storage base and formed an industrial chain in Wuhan, with leading enterprises such as the Yangtze Memory Technologies Co, CICT and XMC, a Wuhan-based 300-millimeter semiconductor manufacturing company.
The city’s talent and innovation base on cybersecurity has attracted more than 17 leading enterprises on China’s top 50 list in the sector. The new energy and intelligent and connected vehicles base is home to more than 30 firms specializing in the research and development of artificial intelligence, autonomous driving tests and 5G technology.
The biomedical and medical devices base is aiming to build a worldclass industrial chain covering R&D, incubation, production, logistics and life.
The World Health Expo will be held at Wuhan International Expo Center from April 8 to 10 with the participation of industry leaders and enterprises from around the world.
Since 2017, Wuhan has taken investment promotion as its “No 1 project” and boosted high-quality development by launching a new model that combines attracting businesses with attracting talent.
Last year, the city held overseas recruitment events in more than 10 countries and regions including Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Denmark. To date, 266 Fortune Global 500 companies have based their operations in Wuhan.
The city ranks 13th among China’s top 50 most promising cities for investment issued by World Famous Brands Assembly in Vancouver, Canada.
Greater Wuhan: Embracing the world, a sub-forum of the 2019 China Development Forum, kicks off on March 23 at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Wuhan is going to host the 7th CISM Military World Games in mid-October.