(Huaihua Daily Omnimedia) (Omnimedia reporter: Di Jian) On August 8, the reporter learned from Huaihua Bureau of Commerce that since the start of the year, the commercial sector of Huaihua City has fully implemented the strategic positioning and mission of the “three highlands and four new missions” strategy and advanced the “five new missions and four orientations” strategy, so as to serve and integrate into the new development pattern. Under the theme of promoting high-quality development, the commercial sector has worked to expand domestic demand and deepen the supply-side structural reform, in a bid to make breakthroughs in commerce and open economy.

Huaihua witnessed rapid expansion in its foreign trade import and export. The city has vigorously advanced the three actions for the innovative development of foreign trade entities, including foreign trade promotion, industry and trade integration and innovative enclave. It successively held the first Hunan (Huaihua) RCEP Economic and Trade Expo and China (Huaihua) RCEP Traditional Medicine Industry Matchmaking Conference; carried out economic and trade exchange and matchmaking activities targeting ASEAN, Africa and other emerging markets; and was designated as the Huaihua Collaboration Area of the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone. In the first half of 2023, the city used USD44.69 million foreign capital, a year-on-year increase of 19 times. It achieved 112% of the annual target of Hunan Province, ranking third in terms of total volume and first in terms of progress in the province.

Huaihua witnessed improvement in both quantity and quality of investment promotion. Adhering to stabilizing the aggregate, optimizing the structure and improving quality, the city has focused on the Huaihua International Land Port, integrated development of Hecheng District and Zhongfang County, characteristic advantageous industries, prioritizing ecological conservation and boosting green development to attract investment. It has carried out a range of activities during the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and other important festivals and holidays, such as the fellow informal talk and matchmaking conference, in a bid to facilitate the project implementation of Hunan entrepreneurs. It has centered around the building of the new “5+N” modern industrial system; established the mechanism where leaders of various industrial chains are responsible for investment promotion; formed the special leading group for investment promotion of industrial chains consisting of government departments and leading enterprises in the industrial chains; formulated such documents as the three-year action plan for precise investment promotion of industrial chains (industries); and created relevant databases and diagrams for key industrial chains (industries). The city has also improved and redesigned the administrative approval process and minimized approval time; carried out activities featuring “business handling, problem solving and service improvement” on a regular basis; upgraded the Entrepreneur Green Card, boosted low-cost financing, sped up the implementation of favorable policies, adopted flexible law enforcement, and implemented the “Six One” work plan for private economy, so as to cultivate a cordial and clean relationship between government and business. In the first half of 2023, the city obtained domestic funds of RMB35,701 million from outside the province, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. It introduced 202 new projects, with a total investment of RMB106,372 million, including 34 projects with a scale of over RMB1 billion and 20 enterprise investment projects of the three types of top 500 enterprises. 137 projects were signed with entrepreneurs returning to Hunan, with a total investment of RMB47,064 million.

Huaihua witnessed steady recovery in domestic trade consumption. The city issued the Work Plan of Huaihua City for Boosting Rural, Nighttime and Internet Economy and formulated the 2023 Huaihua Consumption Promotion Work Implementation Plan. It successively held the launching ceremony of the provincial consumption promotion season (summer), orchestrated 84 consumption promotion activities including the auto expo, Spring Festival shopping fair, gourmet festival, agricultural expo, “she consumption” festival in March and “One Night in Yuelu” activity, and issued consumption coupons amounting to over RMB16 million. Through these efforts, the city strives to offer innovative themed activities on a monthly basis. In the first half of 2023, the city’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB35,718 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.8%. Its growth rate ranked fourth in the province, surpassing the national and provincial averages by 0.6 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively.

（Translated by Yu Jie）