“Ningbo and Japan have a profound historical origin and a foundation for cultural exchanges. Supporting Ningbo to build a Sino-Japanese local development cooperation demonstration zone is in line with national development needs and strategic interests.” Zhang Shifang, deputy to the National People’s Congress and director of Ningbo Economic and Information Bureau, who attended the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing, pointed out that this will help speed up China’s construction of a two-way circulation channel inside and outside, and build a new platform for high-level and wide-ranging cooperation between China and Japan.
In April last year, the National Development and Reform Commission set up Sino-Japanese local development cooperation demonstration zones in six cities, aiming to build the first batch of Sino-Japanese local cooperation model cities.
Deputy Zhang Shifang believes that Ningbo and Japan are separated only by a strip of water, and the Tang and Song Dynasties were the main ports for China’s trade with Japan. After the reform and opening up, it has established friendly relations with nine cities including Nagaoka, Japan, and carried out rich friendly exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and humanities. With the advantages of geographical proximity, harmonious popularity, cultural heritage and business connection, the two places have established long-term cooperative relations in industry, science and technology and capital. The construction of Sino-Japanese local development cooperation demonstration zone has good historical conditions and realistic foundation.
In 2020, Ningbo’s import and export volume to Japan was US$ 8.57 billion, with an export growth of 13.1%. By the end of last year, Japan had established a total of 1,023 foreign-invested enterprises in Ningbo, with contracted foreign capital of 3.18 billion US dollars, ranking the fourth largest trading partnership in Ningbo. A number of scientific research institutions, such as Ningbo Institute of Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have also carried out cooperation and innovation in industry and talents with Japan, and achieved remarkable results.
“Ningbo is an important gateway city connecting domestic and international markets in China. Ningbo’s construction of a Sino-Japanese local development cooperation demonstration zone will promote Zhejiang and even the entire Yangtze River Delta region to expand the international market. ” Deputy Zhang Shifang believes that this also provides useful exploration experience for further deepening the mode and content of local development cooperation between China and Japan, and plays a positive role in building Sino-Japanese relations that meet the requirements of the new era.
Deputy Zhang Shifang suggested that Ningbo should be supported to apply for the construction of a Sino-Japanese local development cooperation demonstration zone, and that it should give guidance and help in the preparation of construction plans and the optimization of industrial layout, clarify the development ideas, development goals and key tasks of Ningbo demonstration zone, strengthen policy and project support, promote the layout of a number of high-quality industrial projects, and try first in policy implementation, opening up and institutional innovation, so as to create a good policy and institutional environment for the construction of the demonstration zone.
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(Contributed by Ningbo Municipal Commission of Commerce)