Favorable policies lure firms to settle down in well-connected city

Investment in Yongzhou is expected to make great strides in the years to come, thanks to a rollout of policies aimed at making it much easier for businesses to settle in the Hunan province city, according to local officials.

One such enterprise that has sought to take advantage of the favorable policies and investment environment is Guangzhou Jiuheng Group, which established a manufacturing base in Yongzhou's economic development zone in 2013.

The group, which specializes in producing customized barcodes, printing and packaging materials, was able to get itself up and running in just four months.

"The factory in Yongzhou started operation in April 2014, taking just 120 days before our first batch of products were ready," said Yin Jianping, vice-president of Jiuheng Group.

Jiuheng's speedy establishment came about due to the local government's focus on streamlining applications and procedures for business establishment and registration. However, the group's initial interest in Yongzhou stemmed from its location.

Situated in the south of Hunan bordering the southern bank of the Xiangjiang River, Yongzhou is nestled strategically between Guangdong province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, providing it with excellent transport links.

The location and favorable policies for new businesses encouraged Jiuheng Group to increase its investment in Yongzhou, Yin said.

Jiuheng Group is just one example of how the current economic climate in Yongzhou is focused on opening-up.

In recent years, the city has sought to expand its coastal industry as well as its transportation network domestically and overseas, but most important of all it has targeted fostering a good environment for starting businesses and attracting investment.

One of the most significant factors that drive people to invest in Yongzhou is that there is no need to run all the administrative examinations and approval procedures in person, said Yu Gui, chairman of the Guide Group, a company that has invested in Yongzhou's optoelectronics industry.

The administrative department simply releases a list of required documents and guides investors to finish the procedures in time, Yu added.

Party Secretary of Yongzhou Li Hui said that Yongzhou is the only prefecture-level city in Hunan that has the strategic advantage of connecting Guangdong and Guangxi.

"We should not just construct good traffic facilities, but more importantly, we must work in an interactive way, sticking to the current situation in the economy.

"We should carry out the opening policy in every aspect of our work, using an open mind to treat all businesspeople who invest in Yongzhou well," Li said.

Besides streamlining the administrative procedure, the city has also focused on international trade.

Relying on major projects initiated by the local government and companies, some of the economic development zones in Qiyang, Jianghua, Lengshuitan, Dong'an, Ningyuan, Daoxian, Lanshan and Lingling have generated 10-billion-yuan industrial clusters.

In the past two years, a large number of industrial giants have established operations in Yongzhou, including telecommunications group Huawei and China State Construction Engineering Corp, both of which are listed as Fortune 500 companies.

Such big names have brought with them greater global trade. As of the end of 2017, there were 171 enterprises that operate import and export business in Yongzhou, an increase of 46 from the previous year.

In 2018, Yongzhou will continue to improve its investment environment through a series of promotion conferences such as the promotion week with Shanghai, the north Hunan promotion conference, growing a larger-scale industrial cluster and more incentive policies, according to the city government.

liyou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/10/2018 page15)