Jiaodong Economic Circle Integration Promotion Conference was held in Beijing

The governments of Qingdao, Yantai, Weifang, Weihai and Rizhao jointly held the Jiaodong Economic Circle Integration Promotion Conference in Beijing on December 8. The event, themed “Tapping into New Development Pattern and Fostering New Growth Poles”, gathered officials from related national ministries and commissions as well as executives of renowned Chinese think tanks and domestic and international enterprises. It provided a new platform for resource matching and sharing of the dividend from the integrated development of the Jiaodong Economic Circle.

Yang Weimin, deputy director of the Committee for Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, delivered a keynote speech at the event. Wang Shujian, member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shandong Committee and vice governor of Shandong province, Wang Qingxian, member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shandong Committee and secretary of CPC Qingdao Committee, Guo Lanfeng, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the secretaries of the CPC committees of Yantai, Weifang, Weihai and Rizhao gave speeches. Zhao Haozhi, acting mayor of Qingdao, attended it.

Yang saidJiaodong Economic Circle should make in-depth research to find its position in the national economic development, and pinpoint the key issues in integrated development and take the right development paths to enhance Qingdao’s functions as a central city, build a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, promote concentration of economic resources and talents, develop industries, increase employment, increase income and create new sources of tax revenue to build Jiaodong Economic Circle into a major modern economic zone in the country.

Wang Shujian said the CPC Shandong Committee and the provincial government attach great importance to integrated regional development, and have made it one of eight development strategies for the development of the Shandong Peninsula city cluster, the national central cities of Jinan and Qingdao and the provincial capital, Jiaodong and south Shandong economic circles. He said Jiaodong Economic Circle is at the forefront for opening-up to Japan and the Republic of Korea, boasting the highest-level opening-up, the most robust economy and the greatest development potential in Shandong province.

Wang Qingxian said Jiaodong Economic Circle is of great strategic importance in linking the southern and northern parts of China, and has significant influence on the development of the eastern and western parts of the country. He added the economic circle also serves as a key node to connect Japan and the ROK to the east and the New Eurasian Land Bridge (part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative) to the west. He believed that the economic circle has unique value in the implementation of the country’s “dual circulation” development strategy in which domestic and foreign markets can boost each other and “domestic circulation” is the mainstay, and it has the foundation and responsibility to take the lead in carrying out the development strategy for ecological protection and high-level development of the Yellow River basin and serve as a window for the opening-up of the basin. He hoped that more and more partners could join the economic circle to jointly foster new growth poles for China’s economy under the new development pattern.

At the event, the financial departments of the five cities mentioned above and Shandong Hi-Speed Group established a RMB100 billion fund for investment in infrastructure in the Shandong Peninsula city cluster.