Business continues to boom in central province

China Daily | Updated: 2019-09-10 08:26

To maintain the sustainable development of the economy and society, Hunan province has further facilitated high-level opening-up in recent years by luring more investments and boosting cooperation, local officials said.

The province is an investment destination for more than one-third of Fortune Global 500 companies from more than 200 countries and regions, ranking first in Central China. The foreign investments in Hunan mainly concentrate on the secondary and tertiary industries such as manufacturing, service, architecture and high-tech businesses.

In 2018, the total contractual amount of foreign investment in Hunan surged 177.6 percent year-on-year. The foreign investment actually utilized in the province amounted to $16.19 billion, up 11.9 percent year-on-year.

Statistics from the Department of Commerce of Hunan province show that in the first quarter of this year, the business investment actually in place recorded 198.5 billion yuan ($27.76 billion), up 17.2 percent year-on-year. The province has set up 74 new foreign enterprises, up 57.5 percent year-on-year and attracted 30 big projects with the amount of each reaching more than 200 million yuan.

This year, Hunan held a series of global events including the 2019 Changsha International Construction Equipment Exhibition in May, a gathering of the world's leading construction machinery companies and the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in June attended by 53 African countries and more than 10 international institutes.

A total of 81 cooperative agreements were signed during the trade expo and the total business volume amounted to more than $20 billion. Enterprises in Hunan will further expand cooperation with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

During the same period, 31 of 43 new overseas businesses funded by Hunan companies were set up in BRI-involved countries. Their combined investments worth $496 million accounted for more than 90 percent of the total investment value, according to commerce department statistics.

By the end of June, the number of overseas enterprises involving investments from Hunan reached 1,570. Their contract investment value had surpassed $23.38 billion, covering 93 countries and regions around the globe.