The Signing Ceremony of the First Hunan (Huaihua) RCEP Economic and Trade Expo & the Western Land-sea Corridor Boosting RCEP Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum was held.
(Photo/Pan Yu)
A whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring. The first conference held in the new year is viewed as a bellwether, which often reveals the priorities of a city in the new year. Right after the Spring Festival holiday, Huaihua promptly held a high-level conference, fully demonstrating the eagerness of Huaihua Municipal Party Committee and People’s Government of Huaihua City to promote investment and develop industries.
Investment promotion is the constant driving force for economic development and a strategic project concerning high-quality development. To accelerate the high-quality economic development of Huaihua, it is imperative to give play to the core role of industries and the key role of projects. In 2023, in the face of the challenging tasks of advancing reform and development and ensuring stability as well as the downward pressure on economy, Huaihua put investment promotion and business environment improvement on the top of the agenda, went all out to develop economy and made solid advances in high-quality development. By the numbers, in 2023, Huaihua introduced 479 new projects, with a total investment of RMB146.8 billion, including 45 projects with a scale of over RMB1 billion and 28 enterprise projects of the three types of top 500 enterprises. It utilized foreign capital of USD61.18 million, ranking fourth in Hunan Province, with a year-on-year increase of 422.5%, ranking second in the province. It was the first in the province to realize the utilization of foreign capital in all the counties, cities and districts (parks) within its jurisdiction. These project breakthroughs have created a strong impetus for high-quality economic and social development across the city.
Further progress is still needed. 2024 is a critical year for continuously implementing the “three highlands and four new missions” vision and the “five new missions and four orientations” strategy. Last year, Huaihua pursued investment promotion as the top priority; this year, Huaihua further designated the “Year of Investment Promotion” and made relevant plans on the first conference held in the new year. These moves send a strong message: In the new year, Huaihua will unswervingly prioritize investment promotion and industrial development and make all-out efforts to advance industrial development at a quicker speed.
In addition to leaders of the Huaihua Municipal Party Committee, Huaihua Municipal People’s Congress, People’s Government of Huaihua City and CPPCC Huaihua Municipal Committee, various enterprises, investment promotion ambassadors and chambers of commerce and associations also attended the conference. The conference seeks to keep all parties motivated, unify their thinking, arouse their fighting will and form synergy. Held on the second working day of the Year of the Loong, it speaks volumes for the great ambition of the Huaihua people to fight for a solid start in the new year. Representatives of certain counties, cities and districts, key municipal industrial chains, enterprises, investment promotion ambassadors, chambers of commerce and associations, and special leading groups for investment promotion delivered speeches and reported their work performance, fostering a strong competitive atmosphere and stimulating the enthusiasm for vigorously promoting investment and developing industries.
In their speeches, “Huaihua speed” and “Huaihua warmth” were most frequently mentioned.
“It only took six months to start operation after the projects were launched in Huaihua,” said Peng Letao, General Manager of SANY Environmental Industry Co., Ltd.
“When we first came here, we could only see the flat ground.” Huaihua International Land Port established the headquarters and worked against the clock, and finally completed the construction of the site for the distribution center,” recalled Zeng Guang, Chairman of Hunan Joy Speed Cold Chain Technology Co., Ltd.
“After only one hour of communication, it decided to invest RMB500 million. Because of one detail, it further invested over RMB1 billion...” The investment story of Hunan Xiangtong Industry Co., Ltd. in Huaihua has spread far and wide. Mou Xiaofeng, Chairman of the company, said that the company is moving towards higher goals.
“The informal talks for returning Hunan entrepreneurs have boosted our confidence in development and offered more opportunities and platforms to member enterprises to start business in their hometown,” said Su Wenjie, Chairman of Huaihua Enterprise Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and Chairman of Zhonghan Liantou Technology Group Co., Ltd.
Behind the praise is Huaihua’s continuous support for entrepreneurs.
While striving to attract investment, Huaihua has made ongoing efforts to streamline business handling procedures, redoubled efforts to reduce costs, improve efficiency and upgrade environment, and formulated eight measures to attract investment and expand opening up, 12 measures to upgrade the business environment, and the three-year action plan for precise investment promotion of industrial chains, in a bid to build a low-cost environment and address problems relating to funds, land supply, energy use and employment. Thanks to these efforts, the city ranked first in Hunan Province in the law-based business environment evaluation.
Huaihua Municipal Party Committee has designated this year as the “Year of Investment Promotion” and issued relevant activity schemes. The authority required that greater priority should be given to the Huaihua International Land Port, “5+N” modern industrial system, integrated development of Hecheng District and Zhongfang County, rural revitalization, Hongjiang-Qianyang-Anjiang tourism triangle and other key initiatives, and “1+3+N” investment promotion activities be carefully organized.
Specifically, “1” means making every effort to host the 11th Global Forum for Hunan Entrepreneurs;
“3” means focusing on the three characteristic industrial clusters of new display, bag & leatherware and traditional Chinese medicine to attract investment and “N” means other key investment promotion matchmaking activities.
Huaihua will also carry out the “six actions” to promote investment, which are commendable in terms of their innovativeness, intensity and pertinence. For example, regarding the action of promoting investment at a high level, leaders of municipal industrial chains, secretaries of Party committees at the county, city and district levels and heads of counties, cities and districts are required to lead a team to carry out investment promotion activities at least on a quarterly, bimonthly and monthly basis, respectively, on the premise of ensuring the effectiveness of investment promotion. For another example, regarding the action of promoting investment through industrial chains, relevant parties are required to make proper plans for industrial investment promotion projects, create accurate graphs and engage with targeted industrial enterprises.
In addition, the activity schemes also contain specific investment promotion plans for returning Hunan entrepreneurs, special leading groups, characteristic industrial parks and overseas actions. The main goals for 2024 are also clarified. Specifically, Huaihua will strive to increase the domestic funds obtained from outside the province by over 20%; introduce more than 50 major projects with a scale of over RMB1 billion, more than one major project with a scale of over RMB5 billion, and more than 30 enterprise projects of the three types of top 500 enterprises; attract the returning Hunan entrepreneurs to invest in and register over 120 enterprises in Huaihua and increase the disbursed funds by over 20%; and increase the foreign capital used by over 20%. These goals show not only Huaihua’s determination in investment promotion, but also its ambition to seize historic opportunities and stand out from the new round of city competition.
Only if you plant in spring can you harvest in autumn. Taking this conference as a good starting point, Huaihua will bring about a new upsurge in investment promotion, make further headway in industrial development, and reap the fruits of high-level opening up and high-quality development!
（Translated by Yu Jie）