On October 31, a press conference in the series on Hunan's achievements during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021-2025), with a special session by Chenzhou City, was held in Changsha. It was learned from the press conference that Chenzhou has accelerated the construction of the "1221" modern industrial system with local characteristics, leading to a leap in industrial capacity and a total economic output exceeding 300 billion yuan.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Chenzhou has newly developed three 100-billion-yuan industries, three 100-billion-yuan industrial parks, and four national or provincial-level industrial clusters. Among them, the non-ferrous metal industry's output value accounts for over 40% of the provincial total, the lithium battery industry has attracted over 170 billion yuan in investment over the past four years, and the tourist arrivals and total tourism revenue have consistently ranked among the top in the province for years. Chenzhou's R&D expenditure intensity increased from 1.21% to 2.43%, with the highest average annual growth rate in the province. The technology contract turnover reached 28.68 billion yuan, and the number of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stood at 2,370, with 10 achievements selected as sustainable development technologies for countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chenzhou has steadfastly pushed forward reform and opening-up, continuously deepening communication and cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and building a hub for reform and opening-up in inland regions, earning provincial government incentives for three consecutive years. Chenzhou's total import and export volume has ranked among the top in Hunan for four consecutive years, with its share of foreign trade in the province rising from 6.93% to 9.4%, and its share of foreign investment increasing from 2.53% to 21.5%. Breaking down barriers to opening-up through institutional innovation, the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone Chenzhou Area has introduced 29 nationally or provincially pioneering reforms, seven of which have been replicated and promoted across the province. As the first to pilot Hunan-Guangdong-Hong Kong "Single E-lock Scheme (SELS)" customs clearance model outside Guangdong Province, Chenzhou has reduced cross-border customs clearance time from up to 45 days to within seven days and lowered logistics costs by 15%. By building a five-country, seven-route Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal full bill of lading corridor, the city has established "combined ports" with Shenzhen's Yantian Port and Guangzhou's Nansha Port.

Optimizing the business environment has unleashed a "magnetic effect." Chenzhou established the province's first business environment bureau and continued to deepen the brand construction of "Worry-free Business in Chenzhou." In recent years, among major projects with an investment of over 200 million yuan, 80% have come from the GBA, demonstrating the significant effectiveness of the "GBA Headquarters + Chenzhou Base" industrial collaboration model. Meanwhile, Chenzhou has built 251 production bases for the GBA's "vegetable basket" program, ranking first among prefecture-level cities nationwide.

As a national innovation demonstration zone for sustainable development, Chenzhou's ecological advantages have been continuously transformed into development strengths. The water quality of Dongjiang Lake has met Class I standards for nine consecutive years. The Dongjiang Lake Big Data Center, built using cold water resources, employs "fully natural water cooling technology" to cool data rooms, achieving the best energy efficiency domestically and leading globally. Strict implementation of systems such as the "three simultaneities" (simultaneous design, construction, and operation of environmental facilities) has driven industrial transformation and upgrading, with water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP and energy consumption intensity per unit of GDP decreasing by 26.63% and 17.5%, respectively.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn