Border city's mayor touts blueprint for economy

A proposed experimental economic zone in a city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will boost economic and trade relations between China and Southeast Asia, the city's mayor said.

In an interview with China Daily, Fangchenggang Mayor Mo Gongming said the city's trade already has increased greatly since the cross-border economic zone between Dongxing, a county-level city administered by Fangchenggang, and Mong Cai, in Vietnam, was established in June 2010.

"Greater cross-border trade will help both China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations avoid risks amid the global economic downturn," Mo said.

Under a plan submitted to the central government, the zone will cover 1,226 square kilometers, about 20 percent of Fangchenggang.

The proposal has five sections: international trade, port logistics, port-associated logistics, international business and ecological agriculture.

"Like Shenzhen, a pioneering city of China's reform and opening-up and reform policy, the zone will become a pioneer area for strategic cooperation between China and ASEAN," Mo said.

The city's trade increased 46.8 percent year-on-year to $4.1 billion in 2011, with exports rising 21.2 percent, to $944 million, the local government said.

"The increased trade was mainly because of the trade zone," Mo said.

In 2011, the zone's exports to the ASEAN accounted for nearly 70 percent of those of Guangxi, and its border trade hit 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion).

Fangchenggang, which borders Vietnam, is the biggest port in China's southwest. It has shipping services to more than 250 ports in around 100 countries and regions.

"Its geographic advantage has laid a favorable foundation for the city to expand economic cooperation and further increase trade between China and Southeast Asia," Mo said.

The city's number of border crossings ranks third in China after Shenzhen and Zhuhai, two special economic zones in neighboring Guangdong province.

Fangchenggang is also developing a national-level border trade center and an international tourism zone in the Pearl Gulf, Mo said.

Mo spoke during the Seventh Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum, which ended on July 13, in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi.

Government officials and economists from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei discussed economic cooperation in the Pan-Beibu Gulf area at the forum, and have agreed on a further revision of the plan that will be submitted to the China-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting and the China-ASEAN Summit later this year.

Contact the writers at qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn and huoyan@chinadaily.com.cn