Xiamen moves to develop marine economy

Xiamen, in eastern Fujian province, has achieved impressive results in developing its marine economy in recent years, according to officials. The city was approved as one of the first batch of 14 marine economy development demonstration zones in China at the end of 2018.

Now it is striving to develop a development model of one zone, two industrial belts and three industrial parks, according to an announcement released by the Xiamen municipal bureau of ocean development on June 26.

The added value of the city's marine industry is expected to reach 80 billion yuan ($11.63 billion) in 2020. The total output value of the marine industry is expected to account for 15 percent of the city's total output value by 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 10.2 percent.

To date, the demonstration zone has started construction of 95 projects, with a total investment of 74.8 billion yuan, covering various fields including marine biology, marine high-end equipment manufacturing, yachts and cruisers, seawater desalination and modern marine services.