The 2023 Hunan-Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Investment and Trade Conference Week was held on May 29. During the week, the Chenzhou Area of the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (PFTZ) held and participated in multiple investment promotion and matchmaking activities.

Since the establishment of the Chenzhou Area of China (Hunan) PFTZ in September 2020, it has been injecting momentum and vitality into the development of Chenzhou through innovation and opening-up. In 2022, the Chenzhou Area achieved a foreign investment of 63.54 million US dollars and a foreign trade of 23.9 billion yuan, accounting for 60% and 46% of the total amount of the city, which increased the city’s GDP by 5.7%.

Promote opening-up

The inaugural ceremony of the Chenzhou-Shenzhen (Yantian) sea-rail intermodal train was held on January 6 this year. At 2:18 p.m. that day, the first Chenzhou-Shenzhen train departed from Chenzhou International Land Port, carrying 25 containers of photovoltaic glass, electronic products, toys, furniture, etc. produced by Chenzhou’s enterprises, and directly arrived at Yantian Port in Shenzhen.

Since 2022, Chenzhou has promoted the coordinated development through the mode of “pilot free trade zone plus international land port, with the opening of Chenzhou International Land Port Phase I and the operation of Chenzhou-Changsha-Europe freight trains and Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transportation.

The total transportation volume has increased from 100,000 tons/month before the opening of Chenzhou International Inland Port Phase I in September 2022 to 150,000 tons/month , a monthly increase of 50%.

The freight volume of Chenzhou-Changsha-Europe freight trains has increased from 1,200 tons before the opening of the land port to 3,000 tons.

The freight volume of Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transportation has skyrocketed from 0 to 25,320 tons in three months.

The Hunan-Guangdong-Hong Kong Single E-lock Scheme of Chenzhou International Inland Port has been carried out, and achieved initial results.

As of February this year, Hunan Zhuzhiyuan Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. had received orders worth over 3 million US dollars. In the workshop, workers were all working hard to produce a batch of bamboo products exported to Europe and America.

This year, the Chenzhou Area has issued relevant support policies for the export-oriented economy. In January, the total volume of foreign trade imports was 210 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.3%.

It has also introduced advantageous industries to help the development of Chenzhou. Based on the local non-ferrous resources in Chenzhou, Hunan Xiangwei New Materials Technology Company settled here to develop high-end new metal materials.

Copper wires with a diameter of only 0.05 millimeters were produced in the workshop of the company, achieving a zero breakthrough in the production of high-end new metal materials in Chenzhou. In addition, 8mm copper rods can be produced by the company’s newly introduced SMS continuous casting and rolling equipment, with an annual output value of 20 billion yuan.

Chenzhou will continue to strengthen the electronic information industry represented by Delta Electronics and Hualei Optoelectronics, the equipment manufacturing industry represented by Sany Heavy Energy and Chenzhou Grain&Oil Machinery, to promote the timely production of major projects such as Sany Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park and Phase III of Delta Electronics.

And it will also optimize the non-ferrous metal industry represented by Zhengwei New Materials and CNGR to create a national advanced manufacturing cluster for the non-ferrous metal industry, in a bid to achieve a total output value of 110 billion yuan.

Besides, it will facilitate the high-end, green, and intelligent development of emerging industries such as modern logistics, modern finance, and digital economy.

Enhance innovation

Recently, Chenzhou Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd. has issued Mingzhu bonds of 875 million yuan on the Macao Stock Exchange after completing the credit enhancement of standby letter of credit (LC) through Huaxia Bank Changsha Branch, which is the first standby LC free trade zone bond of Huaxia Bank in China. The term of the bill is 3 years, with a coupon rate of 4.0%, which sets the lowest coupon rate for the free trade zone bonds in Central China.

In April 2022, Hunan Jinsong Automobile Co., Ltd. signed a contract with Tanzania in Africa through the China-Africa Trade Digital Platform. On May 17, 50 flatbed semi-trailers were exported, with an export value of 1.185 million US dollars. This is the first whole-vehicle export in the field of specialized vehicles in Hunan Province, and it has also achieved a zero breakthrough in specialized vehicle export to Africa in Chenzhou.

In recent years, the Chenzhou Area and the Chenzhou Hi-tech Zone have promoted the construction of projects such as the Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Service Platform and the “1210” Customs Supervision Center of the Comprehensive Bonded Zone, relying on the advantages of platform policies such as “Pilot Free Trade Zone plus Comprehensive Bonded Zone plus Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone” and by building a Chenzhou foreign trade digital trade platform.

They will combine advantages of the Chenzhou Area, national high-tech zones, comprehensive bonded zones, national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, and cross-Strait industrial cooperation zones, and form a “1 plus N” collaborative and innovative development pattern between the Chenzhou Area and industrial parks based on institutional innovation.

As of February this year, 98 pilot reform tasks had been implemented in the Chenzhou Area, with an implementation rate of 96.1%, and 251 implementation measures had been implemented, with an implementation rate of 95.1%. 16 innovative cases, including the new mechanism for industrial transfer of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and provision of government services on a cross-provincial basis, have been selected among the first batch of institutional achievements in the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Improve services

On the morning of March 30, at the construction site of the intelligent production line for tungsten carbide powder in the Chenzhou Area and the Chenzhou Hi-tech Zone, nine projects started construction, with a total planned investment of 1.78 billion yuan. Within the year, it was planned to complete an investment of 1.03 billion yuan. The park has an annual plan to implement 100 key projects, with a total investment of 68.9 billion yuan and an annual planned investment of 13 billion yuan.

The booming development cannot be separated from a good business environment. Hao Liwei, deputy general manager of Chenzhou Tungsten Products Company, said, “In recent years, we have experienced the first-class business environment of Chenzhou and the high-quality services and good investment environment of the park.”

In recent years, the Chenzhou Area and the Chenzhou Hi-tech Zone have appointed service specialists for enterprises and key projects to provide full life cycle tracking services for enterprises from settlement in the park, land acquisition, construction, production, to subsequent development.

Besides, the Chenzhou Area and the Chenzhou Hi-tech Zone have pioneered the government-enterprise morning tea meeting in the city to strengthen the communication between the government and enterprises. On September 19, 2022, at the first government-enterprise morning tea meeting, the problems encountered in the development of enterprises, such as factory integration and talent introduction, were presented, and the relevant officials provided detailed explanations and solutions.

Six entrepreneurs discussed their experiences and put forward suggestions around topics such as strengthening the export-oriented economy at the first night talk in the Chenzhou Area and the Chenzhou Hi-tech Zone on the evening of November 16, 2022. Such night talks aim to collect suggestions about the high-quality development of the park, which have received praise from entrepreneurs.