Luo Lin, a member of the Standing Committee and secretary-general of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, speaks during a group interview on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th CPC National Congress, Oct 19, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

The construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle got off to a good start and achieved concrete progress in the past two years as the two cities are integrating the resources to promote the high-quality development of the western China, said Luo Lin, a member of the Standing Committee and secretary-general of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

He made the remarks during the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

In January 2020, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle became the fourth national key region after the Yangtze River Delta region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Last October, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the master plan to build the Chengdu-Chongqing region into an economic center with national impact, a key hub for scientific and technological innovation, a new area for reform and opening-up and a place with high-quality living standards.

In 1997, Chongqing, the traditional industrial powerhouse in southwestern China, became China's fourth municipality after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. Covering 82,402 square kilometers and with a population of over 32 million, it is the largest of the four, even bigger in area than Ireland or the Czech Republic. Chengdu, capital of neighboring Sichuan province, boasts strong scientific research capabilities, fast economic growth and rich culture.

Luo said the two sides have drawn up some 20 development plans in regional integration, transportation infrastructure construction, coordinated industrial and science development.

"The combined region had GDP of nearly 7.39 trillion yuan ($1.02 trillion) in 2021, accounting for 6.5 percent of national GDP. In the first half of this year, it reached 3.6 trillion yuan with sound development momentum," Luo said.

"The two cities are building world-class automobile and electronic information industrial clusters as well as a comprehensive science center in western China."

Chongqing is also the headquarters of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, which was signed in 2016. This initiated the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor project in a bid to speed up the opening up and development of the western region.

It enables goods from the western regions to be shipped by road, rail and water to and from countries such as Singapore through the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It also connects Europe with Southeast Asia, with Chongqing as a key rail hub, and now reaches 335 ports in 113 countries and regions, Luo said.

By the end of August, the projects have operated over 20,000 trains transporting over 1 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit), which has helped enhance the foreign trade of Chongqing.

"Chongqing's import and export volume is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan mark this year," he said.