The Opening Ceremony of the 5th Session of the 15th Fuzhou Municipal People's Congress Held on Jan.6

Photo by Lv Ming

Fuzhou, Jan. 6 (Chinanews Agency/Yan Xu) -- According to the fifth session of the 15th Fuzhou Municipal People's Congress held on January 6th, 2021, following the guidance of Maritime Silk Road Initiative will be the priority of Fuzhou’s ten major tasks in the next five years.

You Mengjun, Mayor of Fuzhou, set goals for Fuzhou in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) when delivering the government work report on the meeting. Driven by Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Fuzhou shall make full use of the multiple favorable try-out policies, including the core area of Maritime Silk Road and pilot free trade zone, etc. Meanwhile, Fuzhou is actively engaging in the “Belt and Road” cooperation and  building the strategically pivotal city of 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

Fuzhou is one of the key starting point of the ancient "Maritime Silk Road". With Fujian’s advances in building the Core Area of 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, Fuzhou has made rapid and steady progress in reforming and opening up. In particular, over the past five years, Fuzhou established 21st-Century Maritime Cooperation Committee and launched several shipping routes as well as international flights to New York, Paris, Moscow, etc, which further deepening and substantiating the construction of the core area of Maritime Silk Road.

The year 2021 marked the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Mr. You noted that Fuzhou will adhere to reforming and opening up policy, take the initiative to integrate into the "double-cycle" new development paradigm, and thus making Fuzhou a new hub of opening-up in southeast coast of China.

As the integrated bonded areas of Fuzhou and Jiangyin Port have been approved by the state administration, Fuzhou is now committed to establishing an airport integrated bonded area. According to Mr. You, Fuzhou is going to build a domestic first-class hub airport and encourages enterprises to launch cargo-only air routes so as to operate regular cargo-only flights.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the container throughput of Fuzhou Port jumped from the 73rd to the 49th place in the world, and the cargo throughput increased from 140 million tons to 248 million tons, ranking first in Fujian. “This year, Fuzhou will further carry out the “Free Port” policy, strive to exceed 8 million TEUs of container throughput in Fuzhou Port in the next five years, so as to build a world-class port.” Said You Mengjun.

In order to build a new hub of opening-up in southeast coast of China, You Mengjun stressed the following points. First, hosting international events like Maritime Silk Road Exposition and Cross-Strait Fair for Economy and Trade, Maritime Silk Road Tourism Festival, Silk Road International Film Festival, etc. Secondly, accelerating the construction of Japan-China (Fuzhou) Local Development and Cooperation Demonstration Zone and the development of China-Indonesia cooperation on “Two Countries, Twin Parks”. Thirdly, strengthening the research and implementation of policies, rules and standards imposed on RCEP member countries. Moreover, Fuzhou will support enterprises to enter markets along the "Maritime Silk Road" and gather more funds, talents, technology and resources from countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" in Fuzhou.

Source: Chinanews.com