Tianjin, a port city in north China,has been highlighted as a new economic hub expected to emulate the southern center of
Shanghai in the 2002 BusinessWeek Forum held here recently.
Tianjin Mayor Li Shenglin told the forum that the modernization drive of the city had entered a new stage since the new century, aiming to turn
Tianjin into an advanced international port metropolis.
The city neighboring
Beijing has achieved dramatic progress in industry and commerce.
In addition to gigantic harbors handling 100 million tons of cargo a year,
Tianjin also has distinct location advantages with most of China's arterial railways meeting there as well as a sophisticated expressway network.
While upgrading the traditional service industry,
Tianjin is striving to shift the new-round focus to the development of burgeoning industries, revealed the municipal decision-makers at the forum.
The future scheme will give priority to the establishment of an international logistics system in
Tianjin and the restructuring of local state-owned enterprises.
In the meantime,
Tianjin will step up construction of bases for electronic information, the petrochemical industry and automobile manufacturing. It is also actively exploring ways of commercializing biological technologies, modern medicine and new energy sources.
The Binhai New District, once a patch of sterile saline soil, represents the most advanced level of economic development in Tianjin, recording a total industrial output value of 140 billion yuan (16.9 billion U.S. dollars).
As the specific site holding the forum this time, Binhai has shown the world its dramatic changes over the past decade. By the end of 2001, its gross domestic product made up 40 percent of the whole city's, and its foreign trade and exports, 60 percent.
Scheduled to become a modernized economic district by 2004, Binhai would be comparable to the Pudong New District in Shanghai.
Binhai has over 6,000 foreign-funded companies, including some world-leading enterprises like Motorola and Nestle, with a total foreign investment of 17.9 billion U.S. dollars.
"Binhai will become an exemplary district demonstrating the gradual opening up and drastic economic development in north China," Li Shenglin said.
With the theme of "New Century, New Horizons: Business Opportunities in China after WTO", the 2002 BusinessWeek Forum in
Tianjin has attracted over 500 elite from various circles by discussing China's new advantages for attracting foreign investment with WTO membership and other problems.
