Wuhu News

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other five departments released the list of the second batch of pilot cities for industry-finance cooperation. Wuhu city was successfully selected into the list of the first batch of continuous pilot cities, making it the only city in our province.

It is reported that with cities as the carrier, the national pilot cities of industry-finance cooperation will explore new models of industry-finance cooperation, create an ecological environment of sound interaction and coordinated development between industry and finance, promote the deep integration of innovation chain, industrial chain, policy chain and talent chain, and accumulate experience for deepening the reform in the financial field. After preliminary examination, recommendation and expert evaluation, a total of 51 cities (districts) have been selected as the second batch of pilot cities for industry-finance cooperation. As one of the first batch of industrial and financial cooperation pilot cities selected in 2016, Wuhu was identified as one of the first batch of 18 cities to continue the pilot program after the three-year pilot period.

In recent years, our city attaches great importance to industry- finance cooperation. Closely focusing on the new industry, new technologies, new forms, new mode, and “four new added endowment” of economic development in the capital market, our city builds a platform for industry-finance cooperation, continuously strengthens the supporting role of finance for the industry, improves the policy system, expands the scale of the industry, and keeps the development of direct financing at a high level, which provides strong support for promoting the industrial transformation and upgrading and improving the quality and efficiency of enterprises in Wuhu.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

AFIENYA — China’s Chery Automobile Company on Sunday introduced its fleet of SUVs and pick-ups into the Ghanaian market.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Robert Tetteyfio Adjase, head of revenue asset and border protection in Office of the Ghanaian President, commended the Chinese company for the solid vehicles it has introduced into the market.

He expressed optimism the solid relationship between Ghana and China will continue to be deeper, saying that “I am very happy to see such thing here in Ghana, it was very amazing, the car performance was excellent, solid and smooth and I wish we can even have this as one of the cars for presidential convoys. What I can say is it is a very solid car and I can urge Ghanaians to go in for because Ghana and China have a solid relationship and we will like it to continue from generations to generations.”

Representative of Chery automobile in Ghana Luo Wei told Xinhua in an interview the company decided to enter the Ghanaian market largely due to the rapid growth of the country’s economy as well as being a safe destination for business.

He disclosed the company will be setting up a production line here in Ghana next year and hopes to employ between 1,000 to 2,000 local people.

As one of China’s leading automobile brands, Chery Automobile’s principal products include passenger cars, minivans, and SUVs.

Chery Holding Group sold 101,900 cars in November, up 36.4 percent year on year, with monthly sales and growth reaching the highest level in recent years, the reporter learned. Among them, domestic sales reached 88,454 units, up 31.7 percent year on year; 13,446 units were exported, up 78.3 percent year on year; New energy sales totaled 7,623 units, up 67.5 percent year on year.

Towards the end of 2020, Chery Tiggo 8 and Chery Jetour series products have become the market hot style, with monthly sales exceeding 20,000 units respectively, both setting new monthly sales records. In the field of new energy vehicles, Chery new energy vehicles delivered an impressive monthly sales volume of 7,620 units, with a year-on-year growth of 239.3 percent.

Chery Group not only achieved growth against domestic economy downtrend, but also made continuous breakthroughs in the overseas market. From January to November, Chery exported a total of 100,126 vehicles, with a year-on-year growth of 15 percent. In November, Chery won the Top 20 in the evaluation of overseas image of Chinese enterprises jointly guided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, which is the fifth time for Chery to win this honor. At the same time, in the sub-industry list, Chery ranked the first in the automobile industry.

Recently, the seminar and exchange meeting on institutional innovation of Anhui Free Trade Zone for foreign-invested enterprises in Wuhu Area was held. Executives of 36 foreign-invested enterprises and leaders of Foreign Affairs Office, Wuhu Free Trade Office, Investment Promotion Center and other relevant municipal departments attended the meeting.

At the symposium, directors of Wuhu Free Trade Office introduced the development and relevant institutional innovation of the free trade area, and Municipal Foreign Affairs Office recommended the APEC Business travel card to help enterprises “go abroad“. The representatives of entrepreneurs at the meeting put forward their opinions and suggestions on corporate operation, the existing difficulties, the next development plan and the situation of foreign investment. Responsible persons of relevant county (city), district and municipal direct departments responded to the appeals one by one.

The reporter learned from Municipal Investment Promotion Center that with the construction of the free trade zone, Wuhu‘s opening up and sino-foreign cooperation have reached a new level. At present, there are 485 foreign-funded enterprises in the city with a total investment of about 12.97 billion US dollars. From January to October this year, there were 23 signed and registered foreign-funded enterprises, and 15 foreign-funded projects were started. The actual utilization of foreign capital was about 2.66 billion US dollars.

 Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

    Xi Weijing, head of the Wuhu School for the Blind, gives a class for students with visual impairment at the school in Wuhu City, east China’s Anhui Province, Nov. 26, 2020. Xi Weijing’s parents are both visually-impaired. Her father Xi Manqiao set up a private school for the blind in 1979, devoting all his energy to the work of the school. After her father died of illness in 1994, Xi Weijing, then in her 20s, took the burden and became the second principal of the Wuhu School for the Blind. With the support of local government, the Wuhu School for the Blind has been relocated several times and its operating conditions have been greatly improved. At present, the school has more than 30 full-time teachers and more than 200 students. With a belief that special education is not only about imparting knowledge, but more importantly, shaping souls, Xi Weijing and her colleagues insisted on being students’ friends. She set up several bands for the students, improved the vocational education on massage therapy, and encouraged students to take the college entrance exam for the blind. “I will devote my whole life to the school, bringing a wider world to them.” Xi Weijing said. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)

Recently, the Enterprise Federation of three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta released the list of top 100 enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta 2020. Conch Group, Midea Group Wuhu Company, Chery Holding Group are on the list.

The top 100 companies in the Yangtze River Delta had a combined revenue of 16.4 trillion yuan, up 13.57 percent year-on-year, the list showed. Net profit totaled 711.23 billion yuan, up 19.60 percent year on year. The entry threshold reached 56.38 billion yuan, an increase of 5.45 billion yuan over last year.

For the regional distribution of the top 100 enterprises, Zhejiang Province ranks the first, reaching 35; Shanghai follows with 30. There are 26 in Jiangsu Province and nine in Anhui Province.

The list is based on corporate revenue in 2019. The reporter learned that there are 3 enterprises in Wuhu city among the top 100 in the Yangtze River Delta. Among them, Anhui Conch Group ranked 17th with the revenue of 234.3 billion yuan. Midea Group Wuhu Company ranked 75th on the list with revenues of 77 billion yuan. Chery Holding Group ranked 77th on the list with revenue of 75.9 billion yuan.

 Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

The second thematic scheduled meeting on the construction of Wuhu Area of Anhui Free Trade Zone was held on 20th, summarizing and reporting the progress of work in Wuhu area since the first scheduled meeting, deploying and promoting the work in the next stage. Vice Mayor He Dong attended the meeting.

He Dong pointed out that institutional innovation is the core of free trade area construction and relevant departments, including customs, business, science and technology, human resources and social security, must focus on summarizing experience to form more institutional innovation results as soon as possible. We will continue to increase efforts to attract big business and push projects to be launched as soon as possible. The construction of Wuhu area should adhere to the weekly scheduling and weekly progress to promote the implementation of all work.

It is reported that investment attraction, system innovation, enterprise registration, bulk commodity backflow, enterprise service center construction, planning and design and other work in Wuhu area are being effectively promoted. As of November 19, there are 812 registered enterprises in Wuhu area, with a total registered capital of 21.33 billion yuan.

 Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

Xi hails areas’ contribution to economic recovery, emphasizes focus on ecology

President Xi Jinping has underlined the importance of developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt to promote the country’s high-quality socioeconomic development as proposed in a blueprint adopted by a key Party meeting last month.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark at a symposium in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Saturday.

The seminar was held after he concluded a two-day inspection tour which brought him to Nantong and Yangzhou, cities along the Yangtze River. Xi visited places including the waterfront along the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, a key water control project and cultural heritage site.

It was Xi’s first domestic inspection tour after the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, which set China’s major social and economic development targets for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding disasters this year, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has made a prominent contribution as China takes the lead in economic recovery among major world economies, Xi said.

He urged the region to become a major force promoting the country’s green development that gives priority to ecology, promotes the establishment of a new development paradigm and advances high-quality development. The new “dual-circulation” development paradigm takes the domestic market as the mainstay while the domestic and international markets boost each other.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt covers the 11 provincial-level regions of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Shanghai. It accounts for nearly half of the country’s population and total economic output.

Xi urged efforts to build the region into a demonstration area that advances green development and promotes harmonious coexistence between people and nature, a key element in formulating China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and future targets for 2035. The restoration of the Yangtze River’s ecological environment should be a top priority, he said.

He also called on the region to define its own position in the country’s overall development and explore effective ways to stimulate the domestic market. Efforts should be made to combine demand with supply and push forward coordinated development in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Xi said.

To build the Yangtze River Economic Belt into a new platform of high-level opening-up, Xi said efforts should be made to foster more opening-up platforms in inland areas.

According to Xi, provinces and cities along the Yangtze River should find their own positions in the new development paradigm and proactively open their markets to the world. He urged efforts to promote the integration of the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and jointly building the Belt and Road by expanding investment and trade as well as promoting people-to-people exchanges.

He also stressed efforts to protect the cultural relics and heritage of the river, deepen study of the Yangtze River culture and promote its creative transformation and development.

As China highlights coordinated regional development as a key driver of the nation’s economic growth in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), how the Yangtze River Delta region should contribute to this pursuit has figured in heated discussions among economists and policymakers.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has underscored several policy priorities for the five-year plan period, including deepening major regional development strategies and promoting coordinated development among different regions.

The Yangtze River Delta, the cluster contributing a quarter of the country’s GDP and covering Shanghai as well as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, is expected to deepen integration and back the nation’s coordinated regional development, although a specific road map has not been decided.

Regional development

We would argue that the financial services industry should lead the way to integrated development of the region, with Shanghai playing a more important role in driving related progress.

Finance is seen playing a pivotal role in social and economic development. For the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, it can serve as a key push in at least three aspects: promoting infrastructure connections; empowering innovative industries; and supporting growth of wealth and consumption upgrade.

The foundation of Yangtze River Delta integration is the linking of public services and infrastructure such as railways and highways, a process that entails a large amount of investment.

Financial institutions should step up innovation and improve financing services for infrastructure projects like those under the PPP(public-private partnership) framework.

Also, the establishment of a system of innovative industries lies at the core of enhancing the competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta. The financial services industry can extend its role of helping market players in the region to sharpen their development capability, providing better financial services to both large corporations and the smaller ones with development potential.

Moreover, boosting people’s wealth and consumption is key to tapping into the potential of domestic demand during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, while per capita wealth and consumption in the Yangtze River Delta have long been in the forefront of the country.

To promote the accumulation of household wealth and consumption upgrade, the development of asset management and consumer finance services must speed up.

The Intelligent Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Summit Forum in Yangtze River Delta was held in Wuhu on November, 13. Relevant national, provincial and municipal leaders attended the ceremony. 

Ningbo, Member of the Standing Committee of Wuhu Municipal Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, said that the forum held in Wuhu is a concrete measure for the city to deeply study and implement the spirit of the fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the spirit of Xi Jinping’s important speech during his visit to Anhui. Centering on the high-quality development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta integration, the forum focuses on the development of strategic emerging industries, builds a communication platform, promotes the recruitment of talents, and serves the cultivation of enterprises. It will certainly vigorously promote the technological progress and industrial growth of our city, and provide scientific and technological support for Wuhu to strive for the title of “city with four remarkable features”.

It is reported that the theme of this forum is “focusing on integrated intelligent manufacturing and enabling integrated high-quality development”, focusing on the needs of robotics, additive manufacturing, intelligent agricultural machinery and other industries in the Yangtze River Delta region. Academic exchanges and technological docking will be carried out to boost the integrated and high-quality development of the intelligent manufacturing industry in the region. Distinguished Professor of Shanghai University, academician of The Royal Canadian Academy of Sciences Zhang Jiujun, and other 15 well-known experts were invited to attend the forum and give keynote speeches.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government