Swath of deals signed at Suzhou City Promotion Conference

Up to 90 cooperation agreements between Suzhou and Shanghai were signed at the Suzhou City Promotion Conference held in Shanghai on Friday as part of joint efforts made by the two cities to address the national strategy of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

The newly signed agreements include 12 platform projects, nine technology development cooperation projects, 19 industrial coordination projects, five infrastructure projects, 11 public service projects, 11 cultural and financial projects, 11 government cooperation projects and 12 demonstration zone construction projects.

According to Suzhou's Party secretary Xu Kunlin, integration and high quality will define the development of the Yangtze River Delta region. The implementation of the cooperation agreements will help Shanghai and Suzhou to make more progress in terms of coordinated technology innovation, integrated development of industries, transportation connection and environmental protection, he said.

Peng Chenlei, vice mayor of Shanghai, said the cooperation between the two cities has been carried out at a deeper and wider level since the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region was elevated to a national strategy in 2018, with up to 32 policy innovations being implemented. Shanghai will give full play to its strengths in the future to better serve the integrated development of the region and the country's high-quality development, he said.

Suzhou had an annual GDP of 1.92 trillion yuan ($292.1 billion) in 2019, ranking sixth in terms of the GDP value among all Chinese cities. The total import and export value in Suzhou last year was $319.1 billion. Up to 120 A-share listed companies are based in Suzhou.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic earlier this year, Suzhou managed to report a 2.4 percent annual GDP growth during the first three quarters of the year. According to Li Yaping, mayor of Suzhou, the city's annual GDP in 2020 will likely exceed 2 trillion yuan. The value of actual utilized foreign capital also grew by 20 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters.