Rising in the Northern Part of Qingdao! A New Area Being Built Here Focusing on SCO
On the north bank of Jiaozhou Bay, a new area undertaking a major national task is growing rapidly.
On June 8, a special and innovative briefing meeting on the work of SCO New Area was held in Jiaozhou. Leaders of the CPC Jiaozhou Committee and Jiaozhou Government, and the Administrative Committee of SCODA took turns to promote, display the work in the first half of this year, and report ideas for future work. Why should we build the SCO New Area, what should it be like and how to build it. This meeting content is fully disclosed to the outside for the first time.
SCO New Area gathers the resources from three sources, including the core area of SCODA, Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone and Jiaozhou. It follows the strategy of "coordination across the whole city, leading with one core area and collaboration of three areas". The one core area refers to the leading role of the core area of SCODA, and the collaboration of three areas refers to the collaborated development of the Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone, Excellent City Demonstration Area and Rural Revitalization Qilu Model Demonstration Area.
At present, the north of Jiaozhou Bay has demonstrated strong growth potential and development momentum, and has become a new growth pole of Qingdao. Here is the strategic place entrusted by the General Secretary to build the new platform for Belt and Road international cooperation. Here shoulders the important task of the economic highland in north Qingdao.
To build a new area here is to shoulder more responsibilities and set out towards a higher goal.
SCO New Area is facing a once-in-a-lifetime development opportunity with the supreme historical opportunity, implementation of major strategy and the complete facility of land, sea, air and railway. Looking into the future, an international, modern, vigorous and ecological SCO New Area will be created here, promoting the rise of one core and three areas.
The construction of SCO New Area will create a new development highland for Qingdao, and play an important role in promoting Qingdao to a livable and pro-business tourism city by the bay.
Shoulder New Responsibilities and Forge Ahead
Understanding history could help one understand the present. Jiaozhou has a profound historical legacy. In Tang and Song dynasties, this area thrived as a busy port with prosperous sea transportation, leading to the establishment of Banqiao Town. In Earlier Song Dynasty, the Office for Foreign Trade was set up here. The port became the only foreign trade port at the north of Yangtze River and one of the top 5 commercial ports in China. In the following 800 years, it was a bustling commodity distribution hub and a commercial and financial center in northern China and was called a famous maritime city in Guo Que, a history book written in the Ming Dynasty.
The excellent location, well-developed transportation and prosperous trade have made Jiaozhou a favored place in history and at present. It is always a place shouldering national strategies, an open and prosperous city.
In recent years, major transportation infrastructures such as Jiaozhou Bay Bridge Access Line and Qingdao Metro Line 8 have been completed and opened to traffic. In particular, after Jiaodong International Airport, the only 4F airport in Shandong being put into operation, the synergistic integration of the sea, land, air, rail and post facilities makes Jiaozhou a prominent transportation hub in northern China or even Northeast Asia.
On June 10, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced at the SCO Qingdao Summit that the Chinese Government supports the establishment of a demonstration area for China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation. With the support of the national strategy, Jiaozhou as the seat of the core area of SCODA, is once again brought to the forefront of the new round of opening up.
The 13th Party Congress of Qingdao made arrangements to improve the level of the bay metropolitan area. The tasks of Jiaozhou city were: highlighting capacity expansion and industry-city integration; leveraging SCODA and Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone and other functional areas; strengthening logistics and trade, airport economy, incubation of science and innovation, and international exhibition and conference; guiding the advanced manufacturing industry to cluster in the north in an orderly manner; enhancing the capacity to accommodate industry and population; shaping the demonstration area of industrial vitality, and forming the economic highland in northern Qingdao.
The advantage of Jiaozhou lies in the national strategies and high level platforms. Amplifying strategic advantages through effective integration and synergy is the only way for Jiaozhou to live up to expectations and yield greater achievements.
Seeking change is the solution. Facing the global changes and pandemic unseen in a century, and the ever changing economic situation, we must face up to the changes and seek innovation. In the past half year, people in Jiaozhou have had a distinct feeling of change. The city image is changing, the working method is changing and the talent team is also changing. "Good chess players plan for the bigger picture, and inferior chess players plan for one pawn." Changes require not only the courage to bring forth the new, but also farsightedness.
Recently, Jiaozhou has been thinking big and doing small. With a series of activities such as Presentations of Party Secretaries and Debate Road Show, the development philosophy and main goals for SCO New Area are becoming clearer and better refined.
Zhang Xinzhu, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Qingdao Committee, Secretary of the CPC Jiaozhou Committee, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of SCODA, said that by hosting this meeting, we would like to hear the advice and suggestions of relevant departments, entrepreneurs and friends from media, so that we can make joint efforts to turn the vision and blueprint for SCO New Area into reality.
Style of the New Area
Always place Jiaozhou in the bigger picture of the whole country and the global trend, plan the work of Jiaozhou from an overall perspective and serve the overall development with the work of Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou is jumping out of Jiaozhou to see itself, redefining the city with the international vision and global view.
The future SCO New Area will be endowed with distinct characteristics of the international, modern, vigorous and ecological style.
--- Making SCODA full of international style.
Starting from SCODA, there is the steel camel team of the China-Europe freight train and the air messenger of Jiaodong International Airport. The sea, land, air and railway transportation enables SCODA to cross mountains, deserts and deep oceans at a faster speed. "Beginning in the first year, taking shape in the second year and gathering momentum in the third year". SCODA grows out of nothing and opened a new chapter. The vision put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping has become a vivid practice in the land of Qingdao.
Embarking on the new journey, SCODA will focus on the "4+1" strategy, namely comprehensively improving the functions of the four centers of international logistics, modern trade, two-way investment, commercial, tourism and cultural exchanges, so as to raise the image and reputation of SCODA in a pragmatic way and gain strong momentum. We will accelerate the construction of China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade, building it into a new model for open international education cooperation with distinct SCO characteristics and global influence.
---Making Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone full of modern style.
Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone is the main field of the economic hub, gateway and flow, which will effectively upgrade the efficiency of consumption at the airport and in its surrounding. Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone is the first national airport economic demonstration zone approved by National Development and Reform Commission and China Civil Aviation Administration. It is a new platform for Jiazhou to integrate into the domestic circulation and the domestic and international dual circulation.
Last August, with the operation of Jiaodong International Airport, the only 4F level airport in Shandong province, 180 airport related enterprises have registered and operated here successively, and 40 projects with a total investment of 41.9 billion yuan have settled here. A modern ecologically intelligent airport city is ready to emerge, and a new track of the modern airport industry is taking off.
--- Making Excellent City Demonstration Area full of vitality.
Building Qingdao into a livable and pro-business tourism city by the bay is one of the six city positionings proposed by the 13th Party Congress of Qingdao. SCO New Area will focus on building a vigorous Excellent City Demonstration Area to provide a livable, pro-business environment, and accelerate the integrated development of the industries and the city.
SCO New Area will take advantage of the location where the rivers, lakes and the sea converge, to further improve the functional and spatial layout and to highlight SCO features. It will make efforts to build a future city that is pleasant and appealing to residents and visitors alike and to be an important part of Qingdao as an excellent tourism city by the sea bay that is livable and probusiness, and strive to become the highland of quality life and a stage where dreams come true.
--- Making Rural Revitalization Qilu Model Demonstration Area full of ecological style.
Rural Revitalization Qilu Model Demonstration Area will provide the ecological foundation for SCO New Area. SCO New Area will give full play to its advantages in agritech, agricultural machinery and agricultural produce processing, to fully implement the "1866" working system. One refers to providing SCO countries with one set of the integrated solution for rural and agricultural modernization. We will take the east-wast channel and Dagu River ecological corridor as the two pivotal blood vessels to stimulate the blood flow of various elements and resources in the one core area and three areas, thus fully emerging into the construction of SCODA, vigorously develop the open agriculture and expand the circle of friends for agricultural cooperation.
The most aspiring vision of Jiaozhou is to add momentum to the one core area and three areas to become the most attractive investment destination in Northern China. Zhang Xinzhu said that the one core and three areas are independent and interconnected. With respective objectives and strengths, together they form a strong engine powering the rise of SCO New Area.
We are confident that SCO New Area, with supportive policies and excellent industries, will become the most rewarding investment destination.
New and Innovative Methods
Only by understanding the logic can we find the method and pathway.
Capital always goes to the place that offers the best returns. The GDP of Jiaozhou ranks first among cities at the same level in Shandong. SCODA shoulders the mission of the times to build the new Belt and Road international cooperation platform. SCO New Area is indeed a land of promise.
In particular, the 15th Party Congress of the CPC Jiaozhou Committee put forward the working strategy of "coordination across the whole city, leading with one core area and collaboration of three areas", which is tailored for SCO New Area and will serve as the action guide for the construction of SCO New Area at present and in the future.
The one core and three areas, each having its own goal and tasks, are interconnected and mutually reinforced, forming a close community of common development and shared benefit. SCO New Area will apply the platform thinking and ecosystem thinking, and act on the idea of whole-region synergy with SCODA as the foundation, the airport zone as the support, and Jiaozhou as a cornerstone. Coordinated efforts will be made to promote the common development of the one core and three areas.
--- Sourcing from SCO, making SCODA the super link.
According to the designed pathway for building SCO New Area, the core area of SCODA would serve as a super link to bring in elements and resources, and seek policy support for the construction of SCO New Area. "With the great cause, we can get policy support from the national ministries and commissions, and are able to yield unlimited innovation, ideas and creation." The principal leader of the CPC Jiaozhou committee said that we are undergoing changes and a pandemic unprecedented in one hundred years, as well as a counter-current of economic globalization. Regional cooperation has become the inevitable choice of various countries for trade under the pandemic, and therefore the importance of SCODA is ever higher.
SCODA will take solid steps to build the four centers for international logistics, modern trade, two-way investment cooperation, and commercial, travel and cultural exchanges, to ensure effective implementation of the overall plan. We will work to enhance the international influence and prestige of SCODA. We will fully implement the important consensus and projects agreed upon by the leaders of China and other SCO countries, step up the construction of China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade, and take the initiative to tell the SCO stories well.
--- Supported by Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone and taking it as the core source of power.
Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone is positioning itself as a world-class leading international hub airport in Northeast Asia, enlarging the role of the airport as the core power source in regional economic development, increasing domestic and international air routes, opening new passenger and cargo routes directly arriving in SCO countries and countries along the Belt and Road, or transiting from Japan and Korea via Qingdao to the above mentioned destinations, and comprehensively building SCO Air Silk Road. At the same time, we are building a comprehensive bonded zone policy platform, speeding up the development of the export-oriented economy and the introduction of the best airport oriented industry, and cultivating the aggregated, integrated and ecological big industry.
--- Taking Jiaozhou as the foundation to promote the accelerated clustering of various elements in SCO New Area.
Upon understanding the development philosophy of SCODA, Jiaozhou is exploring reformative ways to address the bottlenecks and difficulties in the process of building a modern SCO New Area.
First, we would aggregate resources through institutional and systematic reform, remove administrative and regional barriers, gather the resources from three sources, including the core area of SCODA, Jiaodong Airport Economic Demonstration Zone and Jiaozhou, and establish the Construction Promotion Committee of SCO New Area, which has six working groups including comprehensive coordination and industrial development. The committee follows the mechanism of "four integration", namely integrated administration, personnel management, performance review and government services, thus pooling strengths to make breakthroughs.
Second, we have promoted integrated development through the SOE reform, set up SCO Holding Development Group with registered capital of 20 billion yuan and assets of over 100 billion yuan, and established a development structure featuring "1+3" four SOEs, bringing the two hands of the market and the government together. We will make a concerted effort to promote investment. The investment promotion committee has been established, with 8 departments including the investment project department, industrial development institute; 10 investment promotion groups and task forces of three functional zones and 12 townships (sub-districts) have been set up. A roadmap for industrial-chain based investment attraction has been drawn.
SCO New Area is a geographical area, but also a posture of responsibility and a brand new way of work.
The construction of SCO New Area will inject new vitality into the northern bank of Jiaozhou Bay, open up new space and bring new possibilities for improving the energy level of the bay metropolitan area. The future of this land is full of hope.