Port city, which celebrates past year's achievements, is on course to utilize innovation as a driver to create modern economy, foster leading brands

Qingdao, a major coastal city in Shandong province, has drawn up a challenging and exciting agenda for 2018 - after having taken stock of the past year's achievements.

The new development blueprint for the current year was formulated at the second session of the city's 16th People's Congress, held from Jan 10-13.

Qingdao in East China's Shandong province has beautiful beaches and a grand view. The city has a long history and rich cultural resources. Provided to China Daily

A night view of downtown Qingdao, whose GDP ranks third among China's northern cities. Yan Zhendong / For China Daily

Officials adopted innovation-driven development as a top goal. They also prioritized promoting high-quality development, as well as accelerating the creation of a modern economy, and emphasizing and strengthening Qingdao's so-called "soft powers" so it can evolve as a fashionable and beautiful city.

According to official statistics, the city's GDP reached 1.1 trillion yuan ($170.94 billion) in 2017, an increase of 7.5 percent year-on-year. That ranked it third among China's northern cities, behind Beijing and Tianjin.

The general budget revenue of the city climbed to 115.71 billion yuan in 2017, up 7.1 percent year-on-year.

Investments in fixed assets saw a 7.5 percent rise, while total retail sales of consumer goods gained 10.5 percent year-on-year, as the population grew richer.

Per capita disposable income of Qingdao's residents last year grew 8 percent on 2016.

Zhang Jiangting, a member of the standing committee of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, who also serves as Qingdao Party Chief, said the city will play a leading role in Shandong's economic development and strive to become a national central city and an international coastal city.

In December, Qingdao Port achieved the highest record of average operating efficiency per machine recorded by automated wharves worldwide.

The throughput of the port reached 500 million tons in 2016, making it the seventh largest in the world.

Zhang said that innovation should be the main driving force behind Qingdao's development.

The city is already home to many leading manufacturing brands in the high-speed rail, automobile and home appliances sectors, and has also proved to be a magnet in attracting leading international innovation resources.

Haier Group is a prime example - a renowned multinational consumer electronics and home appliances company that has created its own distinctive brands over the decades.

As a representative innovative enterprise from Qingdao, Haier's global revenue hit 241.9 billion yuan last year, surging 20 percent year-on-year.

Hisense, also a household electrical appliance manufacturer, is another example. It was selected as an official sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Adding to the achievements in technology and innovation by local companies, Qingdao is ramping up the operations of some important organizations. These include the national high-speed train technology innovation center, the Qingdao maritime science and technology laboratory, and a virtual reality industrial base as well as a marine gene bank.

Meng Fanli, mayor of Qingdao, said that furthering the development of innovation required learning from advanced countries and connecting with advanced technologies in the world.

In recent years, Qingdao has accelerated the construction of an international city and it is promoting the process of further opening-up. At the same time, it plans to establish an open economy to further promote the internationalization of local companies and its market.

According to official statistics, Qingdao's investments in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative accounted for some 48.3 percent of the city's total in 2017.

Last year Qingdao added an international sister city to its list of more than 20 other cities and 17 international economic cooperative partnerships.

The port city also caught the world's attention by holding important international events last year, such as the Asia-Europe Meeting High-Level Forum on Digital Connectivity, the Asia Media Summit, the International Conference on Information Communication Technology and the 2017 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization.

This year, Qingdao will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, another high-level international event.

Qingdao's mayor said his city would take the historic opportunity to promote its new image of glamour and vitality to the world.

In addition, the city will host the World Tourism Cities Federation Qingdao Summit, the Asia Pacific Region Arts Conference and other widely influential global events this year.

caoyingying@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/25/2018 page12)