County is pivotal gateway for Yangtze Delta integration

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress have emphasized eco-friendly development and industrial enhancement in the Yangtze River Delta region during their annual meeting in Beijing.

To push forward eco-friendly and integrated development of the delta region and highlight the role of Jiashan county in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, the city has laid out a coordinated plan that includes a slew of measures to better allocate resources, said Zhang Bing, Jiaxing's Party chief.

Jiashan is a pivotal gateway for integration because of its unique geographical location between Zhejiang and Shanghai. It's a natural hub.

"We have announced 20 supportive policies to ensure that the resources of land, money and labor are sufficient to back up the development of Jiashan county," Zhang said.

Meanwhile, the city of Jiaxing will focus on its key missions, including ecological development, innovation, opening-up, cooperation and infrastructure, he said.

Since Jiashan was included in the demonstration zone for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta in November, along with Shanghai's Qingpu district and Suzhou's Wujiang district (Jiangsu province), the county, which borders Shanghai, has been playing its part in the national strategy through overall coordination of social and economic work.

In the first quarter of this year, the regional gross domestic product in Jiashan county grew by 0.5 percent despite the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Zhang said the city will spare no effort to support the development of the demonstration zone and build the county into an important hub in the integration.

Chen Jie, director of Jiangsu's provincial water resources department, said the green development of the delta region is based on abundant water resources. More emphasis should be placed on the preservation and further development of these resources, Chen said.

"The demonstration zone should accelerate the building of a unified water treatment system to better cooperate in the protection, sharing and management of water resources," he said.

In terms of industrial innovation, Chen Mingbo, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government, said the delta region serves as a leading base for industrial innovation and resources sharing, as well as for promoting and applying the results of innovation.

Chen said that nearly 10,000 technology transfer deals have been made between Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui since a technology resource platform was launched in the region last year.

Multiple industries, including automobile manufacturing, electronic information and biomedicine, have formed a competitive industrial cluster in the delta, he added.

"Seizing the opportunity for global industrial chain reconstruction, upgrading the industrial foundation and promoting the modernization of the industrial chain is vital," Chen said.

"The delta should cooperate to support key products and fields, such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, and create a healthy environment for industrial innovation."

Zhang Tianpei, director of Anhui's Development and Reform Commission, pointed to the crucial task of nurturing world-class advanced manufacturing clusters.

"Anhui province will accelerate the construction of national-level industrial clusters — one pilot zone for the innovation and development of artificial intelligence and 24 major emerging industrial bases to enhance the core competitiveness of the industry," Zhang said.