HAIKOW /China/, Jan. 25. /TASS/. The Jiangdong New Area Development Zone in Haikou city in northern Hainan province will play a key role in creating a free trade port on the island in the coming decades. This was reported by the Hainan International Communication Network news portal, citing official data.

According to the article, the leadership of this important innovation cluster plans to take advantage of the new legislation as well as a number of favorable factors, among which is a convenient geographical location. In addition, Jiangdong is said to have great potential to create jobs and attract professionals from all over the world.

According to the Hainan administration's plan, Jiangdong will play an active role in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road projects, which will turn the island into an important link in the development of maritime trade routes leading from Southeast Asia to India, the Arab countries, Africa and Europe.

Attracting investors

The Innovation Zone plans to attract Chinese and foreign capital to strategic projects. According to the general program of development by the middle of this century Hainan, Free Trade Port should become an economic and transport center of global significance.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, foreign investment in Hainan's economy has soared amid reforms carried out by local authorities, reaching $1.5 billion in 2019 and doubling to $3 billion in 2020. Between January and August of last year, it jumped 386% year on year, exceeding $1.9 billion.

According to the network, Jiangdong is actively promoting the headquarters of leading companies to be located in the zone. It is expected that in the coming years, a number of commercial organizations ranked by Forbes business magazine as one of the global top 500 companies with the largest capitalization will settle there.

In 2021, Hainan housed more than 1.3 thousand companies with foreign capital, the number of which for the year increased by 3.4 times. Taiwan and the special administrative regions of China — Hong Kong and Macao — provided the heaviest inflow of investment. The Jiangdong New Area has become one of the priority investment destinations for these partners.

According to statistics, more than 780 Hong Kong businesses have settled in China's southernmost province since 2018. They account for more than 40% of the firms set up in Hainan by investors based outside of mainland China. According to official calculations, over the past three years, Hong Kong has invested about $4.75 billion in the island's economy.

Infrastructure upgrades

Jiangdong is on the list of 11 innovation zones in Hainan, which the government gives priority attention to. Transborder transportation and logistics, exhibition activities, education, tourism, and environmental projects are among Jiangdong's priority directions of development. In order to successfully implement the economic growth promotion program, the government is actively promoting the construction of facilities that will ensure dynamic growth in the respective areas in the long run.

An important role in Jiangdong's global integration process is played by the nearby Meilan International Airport, a major air harbor with passenger traffic of about 17.5 million in 2021. In addition, a network of modern highways is being built in this priority development zone. The shaping of such an advanced communication system will be a solid foundation for large-scale projects of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, the article noted.

Such prestigious educational institutions as the Beijing Normal University and the British Harrow School have opened their offices and branches in Jiangdong to train a skilled workforce. One of the main objectives of the development zone is to ensure dynamic growth through close interaction between the manufacturing sector and the research and education sector.

In June 2018, authorities announced the creation of an innovation zone called the Jiangdong New Area near Meilan International Airport in Haikou, the administrative center of Hainan. This special industrial complex, with an area of over 298 square kilometers, plays an important role in the development of the free trade port. It is home to the aviation industrial park, which is among the strategically important facilities needed to successfully form an advanced international-level transportation and logistics hub on the island.