Northeastern hub sees more foreign investors

The Summer Davos Forum venue has become a landmark of the newly emerging Dalian Donggang Business District. [Photo by WANG HUA/CHINA DAILY]

Dalian has a good environment, for which it has won the title of one of the 500 best cities in environment from the United Nations, the China Habitat Award and the title of one of the best tourism cities in China.

According to Lu Lin, deputy mayor of Dalian, the city has a batch of preferential policies to offer to investors.

The city enjoys incentives relating to the nation's strategy for revitalizing Northeast China. It is the core area of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Lu said Dalian is expected to pilot the Liaoning FTZ scheme in terms of financial globalization, trade facilitation and investment liberalization.

The city is also planning to develop a national-level innovation demonstration zone and a pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce.

"Dalian is on its way to becoming a regional shipping and logistics hub, and a hub for opening to Northeast Asia," Lu said.

The deputy mayor said such industries as shipping and logistics, finance, advanced manufacturing and high technology will be highlighted in the years to come and will also be prioritized for investment.

Dalian Port is an important foreign trade port in Northeast Asia. More than 70 percent of bulk cargo and more than 90 percent of container shipping business in Northeast China has been done through the port.

The port has connections with more than 300 ports around the world.

Dalian International Airport has 148 air routes to link domestic and foreign cities. It served 13.55 million passengers in 2016.

The city is also the foreign trade hub of Northeast China, with more than 21,000 companies and 700,000 people engaged in foreign trade business.

In the first four months of this year, Dalian's foreign trade value reached 136.49 billion yuan ($20 billion), growing 33.39 percent from the same period of last year.

Its exports amounted to 56.64 billion yuan, up 17.2 percent from a year ago. Its imports totaled 79.85 billion yuan, growing 47.83 percent year-on-year.

During the four-month period, Dalian's exports accounted for 57.6 percent of Liaoning's total and imports 64.2 percent.