Li Lecheng, governor of the Liaoning provincial government, delivers speech at the 2024 Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, Liaoning province, on Tuesday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Liaoning Governor Li Lecheng said on Tuesday that the province will make every effort to enhance its level of internal and external opening-up cooperation, creating new opportunities for economic and trade cooperation.
"Openness cooperation is the trend of history and the theme of the times. We will follow the trend of development and leverage our openness advantage," Li said at a session of the ongoing 15th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, that opened in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province, on Tuesday.
As an important industrial base in China, Liaoning boasts unique geographical advantages, solid industrial foundation and abundant innovation resources.
In particular, last year, Liaoning set the goal of building an opening-up cooperation hub in Northeast Asia. This strategic decision is not only positioned for Liaoning's own development but also a proactive response to regional economic cooperation.
Building an opening-up cooperation hub in Northeast Asia means that Liaoning will fully leverage its unique geographical advantages, industrial foundation and resource elements to construct an economic cooperation bridge connecting countries in Northeast Asia, establishing itself as a key node in the fields of regional trade, investment and technology exchange, Li said.
Liaoning is located in the core area of Northeast Asia, with a long coastline and excellent port resources, endowed with natural conditions for openness.
Its geographical advantage, being close to Japan, South Korea, Russia and Mongolia, gives it unparalleled geographical advantages in regional cooperation.
"I came to Liaoning because I saw great potential in Liaoning," said Tokita Takashi, general manager of Lawson's branch in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province.
According to data from the Liaoning Provincial Department of Commerce, since opening its first store in Shenyang in early 2019, Lawson had opened 760 stores in the province by the end of 2023, second only to Shanghai in the country.
Liaoning has a complete range of industries and a strong industrial foundation. Its rich scientific and educational talent resources provide strong support for innovative development, giving it the strength to deeply engage in international cooperation and competition, analysts said.
Furthermore, in the current trend of economic globalization and regional integration, strengthening openness cooperation is an inevitable choice for the province to achieve sustained economic growth and transformation.
According to data from the Liaoning Provincial Department of Commerce, by the end of 2023, Liaoning's goods had been exported to 217 countries and regions worldwide, the cumulative trade volume with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative has exceeded one trillion yuan ($137.7 billion) and the cumulative foreign investment it had attracted exceeded $120 billion.
To build an opening-up cooperation hub in Northeast Asia, Liaoning has taken multiple measures to push forward the drive.
It has continued to enhance the level of various opening-up platforms, implement four major strategies of upgrading pilot free trade zones, improving the innovation of economic development zones, empowering customs special supervision areas and promoting the coordinated development of platform carriers to form a strong synergy for coordinated development.
Liaoning has three pilot free trade zones, 99 economic development zones above the provincial level, one border economic cooperation zone, five comprehensive bonded zones and six cross-border e-commerce comprehensive trial zones, with a superior number and level of platforms nationwide.
In recent years, Liaoning has issued a series of important documents guiding its opening-up.
In particular, the Liaoning Province Foreign Openness Conference held in July 2023 issued a document to further enhance the level of foreign openness in the three-year action plan for new breakthroughs in terms of comprehensive revitalization in Liaoning.
