Fangchenggang： Staying Focused on Geographical Advantage

Written by Wang Gongqing / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

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Fangchenggang： Staying Focused on Geographical Advantage

Written by Wang Gongqing / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

Fangchenggang, a port city located in Southwest China, is not only a vital gateway opening up to the outside world but also an ideal place for foreign trade, border trade, modern logistics, cross-border tourism and foreign processing trade, which is mainly attributed to its exceptional geographical advantage: having access to both the border and the sea. According to The Development Plan for Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, Fangchenggang serving as a frontier city is of vital signifi cance to China’s opening up.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period, the growth rate of Fangchenggang’s GDP was kept at over 12% per year. In 2015, the city’s total GDP exceeded 62 billion yuan. In the future, Fangchenggang will be one of primary drivers of growth for the progressive development of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone.

Significantly enhanced overall strength

As one of China’s two prefecture-level cities close to the border and the sea, Fangchenggang is granted preferential policies related to China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the large-scale development of China’s western region, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone and so on, including charges reduction or exemption, fi nancial support, financial services, subsidies for import & export trade, etc., becoming a true investment cluster enjoying multiple preferential policies, as well as a perfect land of investment integrating funds, technologies, talents and information.

For the past few years, Fangchengfang’s economic performance has been upgraded. It led Guangxi in making a breakthrough in per capita GDP, surpassing US$ 10 thousand; per capita income of public budget has ranked first in Guangxi for years; total industrial output of enterprises above designated size topped 100 billion yuan, with an annual increase of 23.3%; fixed assets investment hit 244 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 13.7%; total foreign trade value exceeded US$ 8 billion, increasing by 19% per year.

Modern industrial cluster surrounding port has begun to take shape; six pillar industries, including steel, nonferrous metals, energy resources, petrochemicals, equipment manufacturing, cereals, oils & foodstuffs, have been formed preliminarily; agricultural industrialization has continued to improve and featured agriculture has developed rapidly; the service sector consisting of commerce & trade, logistics, tourism and finance has been booming.

In addition, Fangchenggang also attaches importance to industrial cooperation via CAEXPO, China-Vietnam (Dongxing-Mong Cai) Commerce, Trade & Tourism Expo, China Jintan Border Development, Opening-up & Cooperation Forum, etc.; a series of cooperation projects centered on industrial cooperation and investment trade, including China-Indonesia Industrial Park and China-Vietnam CBEZ, have been put into place.

A pilot area for deepening opening up

Over the years, Fangchenggang as a pilot area has been committed to promoting reform and innovation by means of Dongxing National Key Development and Opening-up Experimental Zone, achieving fruitful results, such as setting up the first franchised experimental unit for the currency exchange between CNY and VND, the first ASEAN currency service platform, the first cross-border insurance service center, etc.; applying for port-entry visa has been achievable in Dongxing; cross-border cooperation of labor service has been thoroughly carried out.

Furthermore, Fangchenggang has made energetic efforts to strengthen the regional cooperation with ASEAN, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong (China), Macao (China) and Taiwan (China), Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, Pan-Pearl River Delta, etc. Now Fangchenggang has established sister-city relationships with Vietnam’s Ha Long, Korea’s Yeongdong County, and Indonesia’s Pangkal Pinang, respectively. Of particular note is that ASEAN has remained Fangchenggang’s largest trading partner and a key area for local enterprises to do business overseas.

Port construction in progress

Historically, Fangchenggang was once an important junction of ancient maritime Silk Road as early as China’s Tang and Song Dynasties. Along with the construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Fangchenggang also continues to advance port construction, expand port openness and increase customs clearance capacity, as it is one of 25 main hub ports in China’s coastal areas, the largest sea port in China’s western region, as well as the nearest port leading to ASEAN and the Strait of Malacca.

With the constant exploration and construction over the past decade, various direct sea-based routes leading to Singapore, Bangkok, Haiphong, Manila have been opened up; meanwhile, business contacts with over 250 ports in more than 100 countries and regions in the world have been established. In recent years, according to the statistics, about 60 percent to 70 percent of cargoes exported from China to ASEAN countries has been transported via Fangchenggang Port. Now, Fangchenggang is becoming not only an international shipping hub but also a port logistics center in the China-ASEAN region.