Guangxi set to become international trade hub

Liu Ning, secretary of the Communist Party of China Guangxi regional committee. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will continue to expand opening-up to markets at home and abroad and build itself into a convenient hub for domestic and international businesses, said the region's top official.

Liu Ning, secretary of the Communist Party of China Guangxi regional committee, said that President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has placed high hopes on the opening-up and development of Guangxi and called on the region to have a more open-minded outlook, innovate and seek maritime-oriented development opportunities.

Liu, who is also a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and head the Guangxi delegation to the NPC's annual session, said that President Xi's instructions are the roadmap and guideline for Guangxi and have given a strong impetus to the region's opening-up and development.

The region will continue to make achievements in promoting high-quality development in border areas with large ethnic minority populations, seek continuous progress in building a socialist Guangxi with Chinese characteristics in the new era and write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization, Liu told China Daily in an exclusive interview ahead of this year's annual sessions of the NPC and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

To make Guangxi more accessible to the international and domestic markets, the region should better align itself with international economic and trade rules, and work hard to facilitate investment, trade, consumption, capital flows, people-to-people exchanges and logistics, Liu said.

He added that the region will build a high-quality New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and strengthen transportation infrastructure connectivity with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in railway, road and sea routes.

Guangxi will continue to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN countries, and accelerate cross-border trade development and the building of import and storage bases for energy, mining products and agricultural produce, Liu said.

In 2023, two-way trade between Guangxi and ASEAN countries stood at 339.44 billion yuan ($47 billion), a record high, according to the regional government.

Meanwhile, trade between Guangxi and member economies of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership reached 390.5 billion yuan, up 23.7 percent year-on-year.

Guangxi will further improve its business environment to make it easier, cheaper and fairer for businesses to operate in the region, and various support mechanisms will be offered to make it a better place for investment and comfortable to live in, he said.