Recently, the meeting on drafting the Guideline for Building New Stand for China’s Economy by the Yangtze River was held by the NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) and the Ministry of Transport. Mr. Xu Shaoshi, Head of NDRC, points out that the priority for maintaining the long-term and stable economic growth is to develop the Yangtze River Economic Belt, as it will play an important role in the economic transformation and upgrading. What is the implication to the provinces and cities along the Yangtze River? What kind of opportunities will it bring to Jingzhou?
According to the latest plan, the Yangtze River Economic Belt covers the following nine provinces and cities: Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai. Mr. Peng Zhimin, director of the Institute of Economic Development along the Yangtze River, says that the Yangtze River Economic Belt had been listed in national plan since long time ago and was paralleled to the coastal areas in China.
With the preferential policies, the coastal areas have achieved great progress in development. However, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has been lagging behind due to the lack of supportive policies. Currently, with the saturated development along the costal areas, sluggish international economic growth and increasing trade protectionism, there comes the right time and the need to develop the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Specifically, along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, based on the city clusters at the Yangtze River Delta, the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, and Chengdu & Chongqing Region, three shipping centers will be built, namely Shanghai, Wuhan and Chongqing. Thus China’s economic development will be further expanded and a new stand for economic transformation and upgrading will be formed by further developing middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River as well as the two ends of the Economic Belt: Shanghai and China-Pakistan & China-India Economic Corridor.
The nine provinces and cities are working on making reports on the region’s economic development to provide reference for the drafting of national plan on developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Against such background, what kind of opportunities will be brought to Jingzhou? Please continue to follow the news.