Huaqiao International Business Service Park is forging ahead to become a modern business center and international satellite business park, following a motto of "incorporating Shanghai, facing the world and serving Jiangsu".

Located in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, the park has a favorable geographic location. It is only 25 kilometers away from downtown Shanghai and located near several major national expressways. It also allows for easy access to Shanghai's airports and other transportation hubs.

The park takes advantage of Shanghai's status as an international financial center as well as the preferential policies provided by the Kunshan government and the lower costs of labor and land.

With the aid of these factors, Huaqiao is expected to achieve a production volume of 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) and grow to cover 10 million square meters by the end of 2015. By that time, more than 300,000 professionals and their families will be living there, local officials have said.

Construction inside the park is now being accelerated, and local leaders will further strengthen its financial outsourcing services by introducing more advanced Chinese and foreign institutions to form a financial services base with a global reach. Contracts worth 20 billion yuan will be signed by 2015.

Kunshan is known as "little Taipei" because a large number of companies with investments from Taiwan are located there. To better serve these enterprises, the park also includes a Cross-Straits Trade Cooperation Zone that distributes products made in Taiwan throughout the Chinese mainland. It will also serve an even larger number of Taiwan-funded firms in the Yangtze River Delta.

Moreover, the park is home to many regional headquarters of international and domestic manufacturing companies, one of the four major industries of the park. The other key sectors of the park include outsourcing services as well as support services for financial institutions, logistics and commerce.

Since it was founded in 2006, the park has been a vital driving force for the city's economy. Its total output value has tripled, and the general budget revenue increased more than four times over the last five years.

The park has also been equipped with comprehensive leisure facilities and ecological zones, including a five-star Hilton Hotel, a hospital, a cinema, a kindergarten, supermarkets, golf courses and gyms. It is also the first low-carbon construction pilot project in the province.

It was listed as one of the major projects of the province's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) and approved as a provincial demonstration zone of international outsourcing services in 2007.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/15/2012 page4)