Sanya /China/, April 27. /TASS/. The resort city of Sanya in the southern Chinese province of Hainan is aiming to become a model city of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Hainan Daily reported.
According to the newspaper, Hainan's Sanya has strictly adhered to the goals of high-quality development of the region over the past years, focusing on the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, as well as innovation, striving to reach a new level of openness, promoting the development of manufacturing, making efforts to build a model city of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
At the end of 2023, Sanya City's GDP totaled 97.13 billion yuan (about $13.7 billion), up 12% year-on-year.
Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City
One of the city's landmarks is the Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, which was established in 2019, the paper noted. It is a key site for rallying productive forces and for boosting new development energy, the material notes. The park promotes the development of manufacturing, technology, and supporting industries.
It hosts an agricultural breeding base: the science city actively promotes the development in such fields as high-efficiency tropical agriculture, modern industrial seed production, and biotechnology. Many large companies, including China National Seed Group, operate in the park. Hainan Daily also noted that the part is actively promoting deep-sea research.
As of the end of 2023, total fixed asset investment in the science city amounted to 74.56 billion yuan (about $10.4 billion).
Strengthening openness
The newspaper noted that Sanya is also actively promoting high-level openness. In 2023, 236 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in the city, up 24.8% from a year earlier. The amount of used foreign investment was $840 million, up 18.2% from 2022.
Sanya is actively integrating into the global economic system, the paper reported. In order to attract investment and enhance openness, the city applies flexible tax policies, actively utilizes the Hainan Free Trade Port preference policies as well as the advantages of its geographical location. It is emphasized that Sanya is continuously expanding the space for international trade and economic cooperation.
According to Hainan Daily, the city will continue to promote the optimization of the business environment, investment attraction, and scientific and technological innovation in the future. It is emphasized that due to the active implementation of a number of initiatives and promotion of major projects, the city of Sanya has a driving force for quality development.
The article also notes that the resort city pays special attention to the development and improvement of tourism services: Sanya is launching new tourism products to meet the needs of vacationers, making every effort to turn the city into an international tourism center.
Hainan Free Trade Port
On June 1, 2020, the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council of China published a program for the formation of a free trade port in Hainan. The document provides for the creation of a special customs zone on this tropical island. The PRC authorities plan to complete the construction of a free port on the territory of the province in 2025, at which point the island should have an established system for ensuring free trade and investment. By 2035, Hainan plans to ensure freedom of trade and investment, cross-border capital movement, travel, and cargo transportation.