China's Tianjin targets 4pc GDP growth in 2023

North China's Tianjin Municipality targets economic growth of about 4 percent in 2023, according to the ongoing annual session of the municipal people's congress.

Tianjin aims to increase its fixed-asset investment by about 3 percent and its total retail sales by about 6 percent in 2023, Zhang Gong, mayor of Tianjin, said when delivering the government work report at the local legislative session.

According to the report, Tianjin also aims to create 350,000 new jobs, with its surveyed urban unemployment rate to stay at about 5.5 percent in 2023.

In 2022, Tianjin's GDP is expected to reach about 1.6 trillion yuan and the per capita disposable income of local residents is expected to grew at an average annual rate of 5.7 percent. The city implemented targeted policies to stabilize employment, creating 360,000 new jobs last year.

Ankara welcomes the start of the final stage of Sudan's political process, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

"We attach importance to advancing the process in question on a broad basis covering all segments of Sudan. Our country will continue to stand by the brotherly people of Sudan, as it has always been," the ministry said in a statement.

On Dec. 5, 2022, Sudan's military and political forces signed a framework agreement meant to resolve Sudan's months-long crisis. The deal pledges a two-year transition period and the appointment of a civilian prime minister by the political parties that signed the framework agreement.

The four-day consultations will address five issues identified in the framework agreement to reach a "roadmap for the renewal of the dismantling of the 30 June regime process."

The framework agreement includes five topics, including justice and transitional justice, security and military reform, reviewing the peace deal, the dismantling of the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, and resolving the issue in eastern Sudan.

China has suspended the issuing of shortterm visas to South Koreans in response to Seoul's imposition of travel restrictions on Chinese travellers over Covid concerns, Beijing's embassy said on Tuesday.

"Chinese embassies and consulates in Korea will suspend the issuance of short-term visas for Korean citizens," the embassy in Seoul said, adding the measures would be "adjusted again in line with South Korea's removal of the discriminatory entry restrictions on China."

Last month, Seoul imposed a wave of restrictions on travellers from China, including visa restrictions, testing requirements and some flight limits, citing a surge in Covid-19 infections.

Seoul has also capped flights from China, and travellers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau have to test negative before travelling and are tested again on arrival.

Those testing positive are required to quarantine for a week, authorities have said. China currently issues no tourist visas and requires negative Covid test for all arrivals. One Chinese national who tested positive on arriving in Seoul refused to quarantine and fled, sparking a two-day manhunt that dominated South Korean headlines.

Police eventually found the Chinese national-who was not identified, but described as a medical tourist-who will be questioned this week over the infraction, local media reported.

According to official figures, 2,224 Chinese nationals on short-term visas have landed in South Korea since January 2, with 17.5 percent testing positive on arrival.

South Korea has also restricted the issuing of short-term visas to Chinese nationals, excluding public officials, diplomats and those with crucial humanitarian and business purposes, until the end of January.

Other restrictions include scaling back the number of flights from China and requiring all flights from the country to land at South Korea's main Incheon International Airport.

South Korea's southernmost Jeju Island, which has its own international airport and separate visa entry regime, was a popular tourist destination for Chinese arrivals before the pandemic.

Seoul is "inevitably strengthening some anti-epidemic measures to prevent the spread of the virus in our country due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in China," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said last month in announcing the measures.