For Chenzhou, it's location, location, location

Chenzhou's geographic location is proving a strong advantage as the city continues to develop an open economy, Mayor Liu Zhiren said.

The city, which is in southern part of Hunan province, near to the border with Guangdong province, has been a window into the vast region's opening-up, particularly in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Liu, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, said the city will open up further and strengthen its cooperation with cities in the Greater Bay Area.

"Industries that are not suitable to grow in the Greater Bay Area can be put in Chenzhou, such as resource-oriented industries," he said, adding that the city will focus on key industries such as nonferrous metals, mineral gemstones and new materials, to attract more industrial investment from outside the province.

In the past year, Chenzhou introduced 54 projects with a total investment of 76.43 billion yuan ($12.1 billion) from the Greater Bay Area, accounting for 41 percent of annual contracted projects and 52 percent of annual investment. The foreign investment in actual use also reached 1.71 billion yuan, an increase of 12.8 percent from a year ago.

However, the mayor expects more.

With hundreds of kinds of minerals having been discovered, Chenzhou is the world-famous home to nonferrous metals, as well as the China International Mineral and Gem Show.

Liu said Chenzhou hopes the show will integrate different businesses and promote industrial transformation and upgrading, thus boosting the development of related industries such as transportation, tourism, culture, advertising and information.

Chenzhou will focus on refining how it will advance its goal of opening-up further, how it will tap the potential of a pilot free trade zone and how to work with the customs clearance system of the Greater Bay Area to achieve seamless integration with those ports.

"At this year's two sessions, I proposed building an economic circle involving Chenzhou, Shaoguan (in Guangdong province) and Ganzhou (in Jiangxi province) to improve ecological protection in the Greater Bay Area," Liu said.

The city already has a logistics net, with an international express center, railway ports and highway ports incorporated into the rapid clearance system, in which trucks and goods need to wait no longer than five minutes to clear customs between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

More infrastructure will be constructed to ensure traffic flow, Liu said, with a high-speed railway and highway to connect Chenzhou with the Greater Bay Area, while a new airport is on schedule and expected to go into use by the end of next year.

Promoting innovation is one of the other ways to realize Chenzhou's development goals, Liu said. The city will try to cultivate 30 technology innovation enterprises, 30 science and technology startups, and 100 national high-tech enterprises in five years.