Demonstration zones to lift up region's marine economy

Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Natural Resources in December 2018, Beihai in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Zhanjiang in Guangdong province were listed as National Demonstration Zones for Marine Economic Development, and both areas are expected to fuel the growth of new economic drivers in the Beibu Gulf Urban Agglomeration.

Marine economic development demonstration zones are regarded as regional multifunction ocean platforms, which undertake major tasks such as attracting marine industries, promoting the coordinated development of land and sea, pushing forward the construction of marine ecological civilization, and safeguarding the nation's maritime rights and interests.

Beihai, a city located on a peninsula jutting out from Guangxi's southeastern coast, is blessed with abundant natural resources. Lying at the junction of China's Southwest Economic Circle and the ASEAN Economic Circle, Beihai plays an important role in the construction of the New Silk Road, and the Marine Economic Belt, and it is of great significance to efforts by the development demonstration zone to promote the city's marine economy.

The Beihai government is expected to set up a modern marine industrial system to drive the transformation and upgrading of the city's marine industry, a marine science and technology innovation system to strengthen intellectual support for its marine economy, and a new mode of marine opening-up to develop a high-level open economy in Beihai. The city will also accelerate construction of a marine ecological culture to maintain sustained and sound economic growth.

In 2017, Beihai's gross ocean production reached 51.7 billion yuan ($7.34 billion), accounting for 48 percent of the city's GDP. The added value of the city's main marine industry hit 25 billion yuan in 2017, which was 37.5 percent of Guangxi's total marine industry, ranking first in the autonomous region, confirming that the marine economy has grown into a new driver of Beihai's economic development.