Governments release joint guideline on Yangtze River Delta development

The governments of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang jointly released a guideline on Thursday to facilitate the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta region, the second set of policies the governments have introduced to advance the integrated development of the region.

Featuring 17 detailed measures, the newly introduced guideline touches upon 10 major areas of interest, including technological innovation, revitalizing existing assets, establishing an inclusive carbon emission mechanism, optimizing the business environment, facilitating talent flow and exploring models to realize common prosperity, among others.

Qingpu district in southwest Shanghai, Wujiang district in Suzhou of Jiangsu and Jiashan county in northeast Zhejiang will receive support in building cross-regional high-tech development zones, which are likely to grow into national-level high-tech development zones, said Hua Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government.

Infrastructure real estate investment trusts, or REITs, will become a major driver to revitalize existing assets in the region, Hua said. REITs should be rolled out in infrastructure sectors including transportation, water conservancy, environmental protection, logistics, industrial parks and government-subsidized rental housing, he said.

The second batch of supportive policies will aim to nurture more pioneering projects, introduce more resources into the region, further consolidate the systematic framework and unify various standards.

The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region was elevated as a national strategy in November 2018 to serve China's deepened reform and opening-up as well as high-quality economic growth. The first set of 22 polices to address this strategy was introduced in July 2020.

Over the past two years, a total of 88 systematic innovations have been shaped in the region, of which 38 have been promoted nationwide. More than 100 key development projects have been launched here. The local governments have set up a 10-billion-yuan ($1.4 billion) special fiscal fund to better implement the strategy. Another 38.2 million yuan in fiscal budgets has been dedicated to support companies' technological innovation.