The Global Times held the 5th Promotion Event for Foreign Business Investment Attraction in Beijing on Thursday. Guided by the Central Urban Work Conference, the event - themed "Promoting Urban Industrial Innovation and Enhancing Local Economic Momentum" - sees participants engage in extensive discussions on topics including boosting urban high-quality development, green development and enhancing governance efficiency.

Bai Long, deputy editor-in-chief of the Global Times, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the host.



"China's urbanization is at a critical juncture," Gao Guoli, director of the China Center for Urban Development, said at the conference. He said China's urbanization rate has reached 67 percent by the end of 2024, while urban areas will enter a phase of stable development when urbanization rate exceeds 70 percent. This indicates that the peak of Chinese cities' large-scale expansion has passed, according to Gao.

"It's impossible for China's population, labor force, and industries concentrate solely in mega and super-large cities. A large portion of migrant workers returning to their hometowns will prioritize county-level cities as their first choice," Gao said. He said that the functional improvement, quality enhancement, industrial investment promotion, and job creation in these counties have become a crucial "dam" and "reservoir" for attracting and retaining migrant workers, playing an important role for achieving local urbanization in China.



"Businesses and investors do not come solely because officials wave welcome or make empty promises, but rather their investment is decided by investment efficiency, growth prospects, and business environment," Sun Xiaohua, vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said at the conference, pointing out that investment must focus on win-win cooperation in the long run and leverage capital as a binding force to drive high-quality projects to take root.

During the event, multiple cities conducted promotional presentations, while representatives from various regions across the country introduced local economic characteristics, resource endowments, and investment promotion policies, demonstrating their determination and confidence in attracting investment and achieving high-quality urban development.



"'In Beijing, one out of every five lights is powered by Ordos' electricity," said Huang Yanzhang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Ordos Municipal Committee, and vice mayor of the Ordos municipal government in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He told the conference, Ordos is a "resource-rich energy city," noting that it is home to over 50 types of mineral resources, with coal reserves accounting for about one-sixth of the country's total while that of natural gas about one-third of the country's total. This makes Ordos a key national energy and strategic resource base.

As one of the country's key onshore new energy bases, Ordos is currently vigorously promoting the "new energy+" initiative. It is driving green electricity into industrial parks, developing zero-carbon industrial parks, and supporting market-oriented projects to improve energy utilization efficiency, positioning itself a top investment destination for green electricity-preferred enterprises.



"Poetry and distant horizons are right here!" said Chen Renchao, deputy director of the management committee of Lanzhou New Area in Northwest China's Gansu Province. He told the conference that the greening rate in Lanzhou New Area has increased from less than 5 percent to 36 percent now, while the proportion of days with good air quality exceeds 94 percent.

New energy and new materials, after years of accumulation, are now thriving, gathering Global Fortune 500 companies including China Baowu Steel Group and Hailiang Group. Meanwhile, a nationally influential advanced equipment manufacturing base is accelerating its formation, and modern service industries are brimming with vitality. JD.com's Asia No.1 Smart Industrial Park, for instance, boasts a maximum sorting capacity of up to 600,000 orders per day in the new area, said Chen.

Che Dongyu, deputy secretary-general of Shenyang government in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, said that the Shenyang Area of China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone has explored a range of innovative achievements that are "visible, tangible, and practical" for enterprises, with institutional innovation continuously making breakthroughs. Take the convenient allocation and supervision mechanism for bonded goods in processing trade as an example, through direct data connectivity between customs and the free trade zone, it has significantly reduced the time required for cross-regional allocation of bonded materials for aviation manufacturing enterprises, the official said.

Looking ahead, it will fully leverage its role as a bridgehead for opening-up and cooperation with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries, establish a more convenient channel for exchanges and collaboration between Northeast China and SCO nations, and continue to build a new highland for industrial cooperation among SCO countries, Che said.



Qin He, deputy director of the management committee of the Qingdao part of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, said the Qingdao part covers an area of 52 kilometers, with focus on developing industries such as modern marine, international trade, shipping and logistics, modern finance, and advanced manufacturing.

The official said the area's integrated circuit (IC) industrial park has aggregated 46 projects along the IC industrial chain, with total investment of 180.3 billion yuan ($25.04 billion). It features nearly 2.7 million square meters of core area, and the construction of supporting projects such as the high-end talent aggregation and cultivation center and synergistic functional areas is being accelerated.



Lan Xiaoxiong, deputy mayor of Pengzhou in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, vividly summarized the feature of the city as "Six Ones," which boosts the high-quality development of the county's economy.

Specifically, they include "one barrel of oil," with PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical at the core - the largest petrochemical refining and integration project in Southwest China; "one tank of gas" - represented by Western Sichuan Gas Field and Chengdu hydrogen valley; "one dose of medicine" - traditional Chinese medicine industry cluster in Pengzhou Economic Development Zone; "one sky" - represented by Aviation Power Industrial Park in Lichun town and Chengdu's national-level civilian unmanned aerial vehicle testing base; "one basket of vegetable" - centered on Sichuan International Agricultural Products Exchange Center; "one gold mountain" - centered on the natural resource of Longmen Mountain.

When introducing local business environment, Shi Yuntai, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Anlu Municipal Committee, Central China's Hubei Province, said the city needs to continuously polish the "Anxin Anlu" business environment brand, with specific measures including streamlining administration, improving services, strengthening support, and eliminating barriers to remove obstacles.

Pang Ran, deputy secretary-general of Shaoguan government in South China's Guangdong Province and director of the Dongguan-Shaoguan Counterpart Assistance and Cooperation Mechanism, introduced that the park focuses on leveraging Shaoguan's industrial strengths and Dongguan's advantages to develop the "One Park with Dual Zones" model, featuring distinct industrial characteristics, including precision positioning, funding assurance and robust mechanisms. As a joint industrial platform between the two cities, the park has received cumulative investments exceeding 6 billion yuan in over 12 years of development.



Huang Rulong, deputy district chief of Qinbei district in Qinzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, highlighted rich tourism resources including Bazhaigou and Wanghailing. When introducing the district's advantages, Huang mentioned the upgraded location and transportation advantages, emphasizing its pivotal role as a hub connecting ASEAN and its efforts to build a strategic gateway and frontline for ASEAN markets. As a critical node in the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, the completion of the Pinglu Canal will reduce the shipping distance for goods from Southwest China to global markets by over 560 kilometers, positioning the district as a core strategic node linking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with Southwest China's hinterland and ASEAN's vast consumer markets.



Danjiangkou in Hubei Province has become the county-level city in the province with the most pilot projects and the most fruitful outcomes in optimizing the business environment. Pei Hujun, executive vice mayor of the city, said local government's reform innovations focus on reducing costs, improving services and strengthening guarantees. It is projected that in 2025, the city's GDP will increase by 10 percent, and the total output of industrial enterprises above designated size will grow by 20 percent.

"If you invest, we pave the way; if you start a business, we provide services; if you prosper, we facilitate development," said Song Xikun, deputy director of the the standing committees of local people's congress of Wensu County in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Song said local government has continuously improved business environment, actively gathered various resources, and enabled merchants to receive comprehensive support throughout their investment and entrepreneurship process. Wensu offers tax preferential policies for newly established enterprises: company income tax is exempted for the first two years, and reduced by half from the third to the fifth year. In addition, the county has established an industrial guidance fund with a total scale of 1 billion yuan, which cooperates with major projects through direct equity investment and other methods, effectively alleviating the financial pressure on enterprises and assisting them in achieving healthy development, according to the official.



In the session of Global Dialogue, companies from sectors including fast-moving consumer goods, cultural tourism, and high-end manufacturing each combined their own experiences to discuss what kind of cities they prefer to choose for investment.

Chi Forest, a Chinese beverage company, introduced how fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) enterprises choose their operational bases by taking the example of its first factory in Chuzhou, East China's Anhui Province in 2019. Wang Pu, cofound of the company, said that in order to ensure product quality control and innovation flexibility, the company has adopted a model of "super factory serving super city clusters." Under this model, a single factory serves super city clusters composed of multiple neighboring provinces. This approach enables product development and supply to be geographically targeted, thereby achieving agility and responsiveness in quickly adapting to market changes.

"In the next decade, the city that seizes artificial intelligence (AI) will grasp the engine of future urban development. Attracting investment should shift from competing for talent and capital to competing for AI," Qiu Daoyong, secretary general of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Artificial Intelligence Digital Industry Alliance, said at the conference. During the event, he offered three strategic recommendations for cities aiming to implement AI-related industries, including providing application scenarios, prioritizing data asset utilization and cultivating AI talent.

Fu Yibin, chief architect at China Travel Industry Association proposed the concept of "Innovation and Empowerment." Innovation focuses on urban public spaces - through self-developed intellectual property (IP), it will be transformed into new cultural and tourism formats to activate the connotation of urban cultural tourism; it also empowers traditional scenic areas and activates existing resources in urban public spaces.

Zhang Cheng, founder of New Pastoralism, who is also deeply engaged in the cultural and tourism industry, said that when selecting investment destinations, companies focus more on profit growth points and value creation at the micro level, while at the macro level, they need to understand urban-rural relations, social changes, industry restructuring, and new market demands.

Zhan Hua, general manager of the Brand Management Center of Taihe Rye Music, said that from the perspective of urban industrial chain reshaping, music - being a highly dynamic component of the cultural industry - has, through the boom of large-scale music performances, brought new consumption scenarios to cities.



In addition, at the session about how enterprises expanding overseas to activate urban charm, companies share opportunities for going global and bringing in foreign resources.

Wang Changsheng, Director of Public Affairs at XPeng Motors, said that the company originated in Guangzhou, which boasts a pioneering and innovative spirit as well as a high-quality entrepreneurial environment, which provided spiritual impetus and soil for the company's continuous breakthroughs. "Our overseas expansion is not only a story of our own growth but has also, to a certain extent, enhanced the international charm and image of Guangzhou as a city," Wang said.

Wang added that XPeng will continue to deepen its presence in existing markets, expand into new regions, and build a globalized product, service, and supply chain system. Currently, XPeng Motors has entered 46 countries and regions, with plans to expand to 60 by the end of the year. In the next decade, half of its sales are expected to come from overseas markets.

"My job involves recruiting global pharmaceutical companies to introduce the world's latest clinically urgent innovative drugs and medical devices - including gene therapies, oncology drugs, and rare disease treatments - into the Chinese market through pilot programs in Boao Lecheng," stated Ma Yu, general manager of Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone Central Pharmacy Co Ltd.

"To date, we have synchronized the introduction of innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices newly approved by ICH member countries (such as the US, EU, and Japan), covering 28 clinical departments, with over 500 specialty pharmaceuticals and medical devices brought in as specialty items," Ma said.

As a series of branded events hosted by Global Times centered on promoting high-quality urban development, the event has been held consecutively for five editions. The conference adheres to high-level planning and high-platform promotion, showcasing the new vitality of China's urban development in a multi-dimensional and multi-perspective manner. It facilitates discussions on new concepts, connections with new industries, and focuses on new drivers of growth, actively building exchange platforms for governments at all levels, industrial parks, and enterprises to support local economic development and industrial upgrading.