Faced with a complicated and serious external environment, Hunan Province has delivered on its 2023 outbound investment cooperation targets ahead of schedule, according to the Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce on January 22. In the first 11 months of 2023, Hunan set up 121 overseas startups through outbound direct investment (ODI), with an actual investment increasing 17.7% year on year to 2.15 billion USD. The figure ranked ninth nationwide and first in central China.

The year of 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Hunan has founded 1,040 overseas enterprises over the past decade, with an actual investment amounting to 12.6 billion USD. Its total investment topped the central regions of China and ranked 10th nationwide. The "one railway and two industrial parks" project in Laos and the contract farming cooperation project in Tanzania have been included in the List of Practical Cooperation Deliverables of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. The projects made their debut on the list for the first time. During the January-November period of 2023, Hunan established 63 new overseas enterprises in countries involved in the BRI, with an actual investment increasing 110% year on year to 705 million USD.

The province coordinated resources from all sides to help key enterprises solve bottleneck problems impeding their progress of going global and to ensure projects proceed smoothly. For example, the Mexico City Metro Line 1, Hunan's largest outbound contract project, undertaken by the CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd, has entered the trial operation. An overseas special railway for the "one railway and two industrial parks" project in Laos has been approved. The first agricultural machinery flagship store opened in Laos. The first freight train dedicated to Lao agricultural products arrived in Changsha. The Afritech Greencrops Group planted, processed, and traded cassava, cashew nuts, and other agricultural products in Tanzania. Pakistan's optical fiber backbone network, Malaysia's photovoltaic industry, Cambodia's agricultural industrialization, and other key projects have been smoothly promoted.

Hunan will continue to strengthen its advantages in foreign aid and build a reputation for providing training in foreign aid. The province will apply for 568 foreign aid training projects in 2024, of which more than two-thirds are Africa-related projects. A total of 30 units in Hunan have obtained 50 foreign aid qualifications, ranking among the top nationwide in terms of quantity and quality. Three foreign aid projects, namely the Samoa Demonstration Farm Project, the 12th Agricultural Technical Assistance Project in Micronesia, and the 5th Agricultural Technical Assistance Project in Tonga, were selected as the "4th Global Best Poverty Reduction Practices".

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn