Rising Zhangzhou with Bright Future
Wu Hongqin, Mayor of Zhangzhou, invites businessmen from different places to contribute to and enjoy the development of Zhangzhou together.
On the afternoon of July 24, the Talkfest of Private Enterprises from Zhangzhou, Fujian about Projects and Investment was held in Shanghai. More than 300 people from foreign countries, Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta were present in the talkfest, including private and overseas Chinese entrepreneurs, as well as representatives of multinationals’ branches in Shanghai. The talkfest was held by the CPC Commission and government of Zhangzhou. It also received great support and help from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Offices of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Shanghai Chamber of Commerce for Businessmen from Wenzhou and China-Australia Entrepreneurs Association Incorporated also gave strong support to the talkfest.
Wu Hongqin, Party Secretary and Mayor of Zhangzhou, addressed in the talkfest, which was hosted by You Wanling, a standing member of the CPC Commission of Zhangzhou.
Wu Hongqi expressed welcome and gratitude towards the guests on behalf of the CPC Commission and government of Zhangzhou. In her presentation, she introduced the advantages, development trend and great outlook of Zhangzhou. The director of Zhangzhou Municipal Reform and Development Commission emphatically introduced the basic condition, development plan, key areas, industrial distribution and key projects of Zhangzhou.
Zhangzhou is a notable historical and cultural city with more than 1300 years of history, as well a rising industrial and trade port city. As a key city in the Economic Zone on the Both Banks of Taiwan Strait, Zhangzhou includes one downtown area, two districts and eight counties. It covers 12.9 thousand sq kilometers of land and 18.6 thousand sq kilometers of marine area. With 4.8 million permanent residents, Zhangzhou enjoys obvious location advantages – it connects with Xiamen in the east, links to Guangdong in the south, and stands opposite Taiwan. Zhangzhou has three special advantages: The first advantage lies in its proximity to Taiwan. Zhangzhou is the ancestral home of many Taiwanese, important place of origin for Taiwanese culture and area with intensive investments from Taiwanese businessmen. The second advantage comes from the agriculture. Zhangzhou is a nation-known city of fruits, flowers and aquatic products, in addition to the “City of Mushrooms in China” and “City of Canned Food in China”. It is the largest green food production base, foreign exchange-earning agriculture and flower distributing center in Fujian. The third advantage is based on its port. It has a 715-km coastal and owns the southern bank of Xiamen Bay and Dongshan Bay – two of the six deepwater harbors in Fujian. The two harbors can accommodate more than 130 docks, each of whose capacity is larger than 10 thousand tons. The Zhaoyin Harbor has become the largest port for importing grains and lumbers in Fujian. The Zhaoyin Harbor District, Houshi Harbor District and Dongshan Harbor District are listed as the first-class national ports open to foreigners.
In recent years, Zhangzhou, guided by scientific thinking on development, follows the strategic deployment of building the Economic Zone on the West Bank of Taiwan Strait and implements the development strategy of “establishing city with port, development city with industry, energizing city with opening up and boosting city with science and technology”. It highlights the main development trend of “developing Zhangzhou at first before the construction of the West Bank of Taiwan Strait” and sticks to the pattern of scientific and leaping development. In 2010, the GDP of Zhangzhou reached 140.071 billion yuan (USD 21.5 billion). Its financial revenue totaled 13.940 billion yuan (USD 2.1 billion) and the investment into fixed assets amounted to 83.7 billion yuan (USD 12.9 billion). A batch of important projects of petrochemical, steel, glass, etc, were put under construction, forming featured industrial clusters of food, electronics, machinery, petrochemical, electric power, steel, automobile, quartz watch, furniture, medicine and special glass. During the 12th Five-year Plan, Zhangzhou government will stir up a new upsurge of entrepreneurship, aiming at increasing the GDP to over 300 billion yuan (USD 46.2 billion) in 2015 and the financial revenue to over 40 billion yuan (USD 6.2 billion). The output value of each of its four pillar industries – petrochemical, special steel, equipment manufacturing and food – is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan (USD 15.4 billion). The output value of petroleum industry is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan (USD 46.2 billion). Meanwhile, the Zhangzhou government will spend great forces in fostering and developing four strategic emerging industries of electric information, new materials, new energy and biomedicine, trying to earn new economic growth points and competitive advantages. The great economic development trend and environment provides vast market space and excellent development outlook for entrepreneurs and businessmen.
Presently, Zhangzhou is confronted with an important strategic opportunity period. Before the Spring Festival of 2010, President Hu Jintao firstly came to Zhangzhou to visit Taiwanese businessmen during his review in Fujian, showing the special advantages of Zhangzhou for Taiwan. On March 8, 2010, the State Council officially approved the Development Plan of the Economic Zone on the West Bank of Taiwan Strait, in which the Xiamen Bay was listed as the top of nine areas needing intensive development. The Development Plan highlights the goal of “improving the integrate development level of harbors with Xiamen as the leader and Zhangzhou as the extension”. It also points out the necessity of “accelerating the construction of Gulei Petrochemical Base of Zhangzhou to form an important dock-based petrochemical base in China”, which further underlines the role and function of Zhangzhou in the area of the West Bank of Taiwan Strait and brings this city significant opportunities. It can be said that current Zhangzhou is within the best period for investment and starting business. The cost of investing in Zhangzhou is low. In addition, its advantages as a city which began its development later are gradually emerging. No matter in the coastal regions of Southeast Asia and the area of West Bank of Taiwan Strait, Zhangzhou is a city of “low cost”. Its wide fields of investment and the first, second and third industries, which are taking on great development trend, mean that this city owns numerous investment opportunities and big development space.
In the talkfest, the present entrepreneurs and businessmen had in-depth talks on some cooperative projects with the leaders of different government departments of Zhangzhou. Many entrepreneurs showed the will of making on-the-sport investigations in Zhangzhou for their cooperative projects, which are expected to be established in this city.
Wu Hongqin said that Zhangzhou had predominant location advantages, abundant resources, huge development potential and good service environment. It is an ideal place for the elites of different industries to invest or start their business. The Zhangzhou government will hold the open, liberal and expansive ideas and further create the ambience for attracting, assuring and richening businessmen. In the end, she invited present guests and friends to visit Zhangzhou and invest there.
