Liangjiang New Area witnesses booming foreign trade

CHONGQING, China – In the first half of 2013, imports and exports in China’s coastal areas grew as West China continued to gain momentum, and in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, known as “the window of West China”, imports and exports continued to grow at a staggering rate, fueled by the laptop and automobile industries among others.

Statistics during the period showed that the area’s total import and export volume increased by 43% from the previous year to slightly over 13 billion US dollars, constituting nearly half of Chongqing’s total imports and exports, with mechanical and electrical products like laptops, automobiles and motorcycles being major export contributers.

Monitoring data of the 69 key enterprises in Liangjiang New Area indicated that the output value of foreign-funded enterprises ascended substantially in the first 7 months of the year to 79.7 billion yuan, up 90.8% year on year, while that of enterprises invested by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan went up by 22.2% to 42 billion yuan from a year earlier, which highlighted the role of Liangjiang New Area as an essential investment destination for multinational enterprises.

As the first state-level new area in inland China, Liangjiang New Area has become a high-profile investment destination for multinational enterprises since its economy and imports and exports grew by more than 20% and 80% respectively for three consecutive years.

Taking advantage of the location at the intersection point between the Yangtze River’s “gold waterway” and the Yuxin’ou International Railway, Liangjiang New Area is becoming the bridgehead for China’s trade to Europe.

The Media Tour along Yuxin’ou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) International Railway kicked off in Chongqing on July 30, 2013.

A multimedia news group, consisting of 31 journalists from People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Chongqing Daily, CQTV, CQNEWS, etc., set off from Tuanjiecun, also known as the origin of Yuxin’ou Railway, via Xi’an traveling on to Lanzhou, Urumqi, the Alataw Pass, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, to Duisburg, Germany.

This media tour is not only an important activity that introduces Chongqing’s urban image to foreign countries, but also a rare chance to display “made-in-China” and “made-in-Chongqing” to countries along the railway.

Construction began on a logistics industrial park, with a total investment of 80 million U.S. dollars from Vailog S.r.l., in Liangjiang New Area on July 2.

This industrial park, with the functions of storage, distribution, settlement, management and operation, is to introduce a package of distribution and operation centers from the world’s well-known firms. Besides, it will attract some transnational companies engaged in auto spares distribution, luxury products, etc.

The new area is speeding up the construction of a distribution center serving exports to European countries.

With the operation of this center, Liangjiang New Area will not only develop itself into inland China’s most advanced manufacturing center, but also become an international logistics center and trade center for the inland regions, achieving the strategic goal set by the central government.