“Huaihua is an important node city on the new western land-sea corridor. We insist on expanding opening up and consolidate the new model of opening up that relies on the new western land-sea corridor and the great international land-sea trade corridor, connects the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, and serves domestic and international economic flows,” said Li Chunqiu, deputy to the National People’s Congress, Deputy Secretary of CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee, and Mayor of the People’s Government of Huaihua City.

In 2024, Huaihua City launched 54 international and domestic transport routes, established trade relations with 23 countries, and added 52 new port stations. Goods from 20 provinces including Hubei and Jiangxi and 14 cities and prefectures in Hunan were collected and distributed in Huaihua. The city handled 1,009 trips throughout the year, achieving the provincial target two years ahead of schedule. Specifically, the city led the country in terms of the number of ASEAN trains, ranked first in the central region in terms of the number of trips running on the China-Laos Railway, and ranked first in Hunan Province for three years straight in terms of the growth rate of foreign trade imports and exports.

To continuously expand economic and trade cooperation, Huaihua City signed cooperation agreements with Yangpu Port, Nansha Port, etc., set up seven overseas warehouses in Thailand, Laos and other countries, successfully attracted seven internationally renowned shipping companies such as COSCO Shipping to set up container return locations in Huaihua, and officially put the Yantian International Huaihua Inland Port into operation, according to Li Chunqiu. Huaihua also opened a green channel for immediate declaration, check and release. The city’s customs clearance efficiency for import and export of goods far exceeds the national average level. The city has also launched the pilot project for export tax rebate for ports of shipment, reducing the tax rebate cycle of enterprises by five to 10 days.

“The experience has demonstrated that unswervingly promoting high-level opening up is not only a historically correct choice, but also aligns with the logic of the advancement of the times.” According to Li Chunqiu, Huaihua City will bear in mind the instructions, seize opportunities, and stride ahead. While advancing the level of opening up, the city will seek ocean-oriented development, work to develop an ASEAN train assembly center, cross-border e-commerce assembly center, imported commodity procurement center, and cold-chain logistics distribution center in the central region, accelerate the integrated development of port, industry and city, and go all out to build itself into a strategic gateway city in the central region to align with the Belt and Road Initiative. The city will seize the opportunity while steadily expanding institutional opening up, promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road, proactively align with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and other international economic and trade rules, expand the opening up of the commodity, service, labor and other markets in a well-ordered way, and better participate in international division of labor, cooperation and competition. Following the trend of economic globalization, the city will stay committed to opening up, implement national plans and requirements on giving foreign investments greater access, continue to foster a first-class, market-oriented, law-based and international business environment, and ensure treatment for foreign-funded enterprises in fields such as access to production factors and license application.

(Translated by Professor Yu Jie)