In 2024, Huaihua took investment promotion as the top priority in facilitating the high-quality development of economy and society. It vigorously advanced the “Year of Investment Promotion” and continuously improved the investment promotion mechanism, investment promotion measures and service quality, striving to achieve remarkable results in investment promotion. Throughout the year, the city introduced 540 projects, with a total investment of RMB146,374 million, and obtained domestic funds of RMB83,604 million from outside Hunan Province.
To build the “5+10” modern industrial system, Huaihua adopted a working system consisting of municipal leaders, special leading groups for municipal industrial chains (industries), municipal special leading groups for investment promotion, counties, cities and districts (industrial parks) and made extensive door-to-door visits to merchants for investment promotion. The city engaged with a range of targeted enterprises in industrial chains and introduced a number of major industrial projects. Main leaders of CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee and People’s Government of Huaihua City took the lead in investment promotion. Various industrial chains, counties, cities and districts (industrial parks) visited enterprises to foster connections. These efforts led to a strong atmosphere of vigorously promoting investment and developing industries in the city.
Relying on its international land port to attract investment, Huaihua effectively transformed the advantages in opening up into a winning advantage in investment promotion. In 2024, by taking advantage of the new western land-sea corridor and the great international land-sea trade corridor with global connection and low-cost logistics as a result of policy support, Huaihua facilitated the implementation of a number of logistics projects, such as the Dekun Logistics Secondary Distribution Center and COSCO Shipping Multimodal Transport Center. It held a series of investment promotion activities including the Exchange Meeting on the Development of Huaihua International Land Port and Cold Chain Logistics and established and opened the Land Port (Cross-border) E-commerce Industrial Park, introducing 15 enterprises and achieving a transaction volume of RMB300 million. It also introduced and built the smart cold chain digital logistics center with the largest capacity and most advanced equipment in southwestern China.
Huaihua leveraged the role of industrial chains to develop industrial clusters. In 2024, Huaihua encouraged leaders of various industrial chains to come to the frontline to attract investment and facilitated the investment of leading enterprises in industrial chains such as Dasso Group, CR Sanjiu and ZBX Group. It held a series of industrial chain investment promotion activities, including the Exchange Meeting on the Development of the New Display Industry, Exchange Meeting on the Development of the Medicine & Health Industry and TCM ISO International Standards Conference in Huaihua, and the 2024 Bag & Leatherware Industry High-quality Development Conference. It also promoted the signing and implementation of a number of key industrial projects, including the PCB circuit board manufacturing project, Poria cocos processing and production project, and the silica sand acid pickling and purification project with an annual output of two million tons. The city introduced 517 industrial projects, with a total investment of RMB139,662 million. The bag & leatherware industry basically formed a development pattern spanning the entire industrial chain. The city was poised to develop the “TCM valley in southern China”. It effectively advanced the development of industry clusters through targeted investment promotion.
Huaihua flexibly promoted investment through activities, special leading groups, fellow entrepreneurs and door-to-door visits to improve the effectiveness of investment attraction. The special leading groups gave full play to the role of outpost of local investment promotion and went all out to engage with chambers of commerce, associations and enterprises, facilitating the signing of a number of projects. Main municipal leaders took the initiative to make door-to-door visits to representatives of returning Hunan entrepreneurs and held a series of activities during the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, National Day and other important festivals as many entrepreneurs returned home. In 2024, 276 projects were signed with entrepreneurs returning to Hunan, with a total investment of RMB78,735 million. It is worth mentioning that in 2024, Huaihua made citywide efforts to hold the 11th Global Forum for Hunan Entrepreneurs, which boasts the highest standard, largest scale and largest number of signed projects among the global forums. It fully showcases Hunan’s image and Huaihua’s characteristics. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs came to Hunan for this grand event, empowering the development of Huaihua City.
As the only intersection of the new western land-sea corridor and the great international land-sea trade corridor in central China and ASEAN freight assembly center in Hunan Province, Huaihua stepped up economic and trade exchanges with RCEP countries and innovatively developed overseas investment promotion channels. It successfully held activities to engage multinational enterprises in a Huaihua tour, inviting representatives from 21 multinational enterprises, Taiwan-funded enterprises and chambers of commerce and associations to come to Huaihua for inspection and negotiation. In 2024, the city used USD56.49 million foreign capital, and all counties, cities and districts managed to use foreign capital. 33 foreign-invested enterprises were established, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%. The city successfully attracted African countries to register enterprises and invest in Huaihua for the first time. In addition, Huaihua signed a policy complementarity cooperation agreement with the Thanaleng Port in Laos and the Memorandum of Cooperation on Developing the “1+4” New Channels for China-Laos Economic and Trade Cooperation by Combining Digital Technology and Real Economy with the Trade Promotion and Handicrafts Department of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos, Kunming of Yunnan, Chuzhou of Anhui, and Yangpu District of Shanghai.
To improve the effectiveness and consolidate the foundation of investment promotion and promote the implementation of investment promotion projects in Huaihua, the city standardized investment promotion efforts, actively formulated the joint conference policy for investment promotion, implemented the routine liaison mechanism for key merchants, and formed an investment promotion responsibility system in which “main leaders assume the primary responsibility, leaders in charge ensure the implementation, and responsible departments fulfill responsibilities on an ongoing basis”. In the meantime, a promotion mechanism for major projects was established, in which main leaders of CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee and People’s Government of Huaihua City, municipal leaders in charge, and leading departments are responsible for quarterly, monthly and weekly scheduling, respectively. They regularly scheduled newly signed projects, especially those signed at the Global Forum for Hunan Entrepreneurs, so as to provide all-round, whole-process services, timely address difficulties and problems in project construction, and ensure smooth project progress. In 2024, the fulfillment rate, operation rate, production rate and fund availability rate of newly introduced projects stood at 97.59%, 96.96%, 52.05% and 34.36%, respectively.
(Translated by Professor Yu Jie)