Coastal city plans blueprint through free trade zone and transformation

Qingdao's marine economy is expected to embrace high-quality development during the next five years, as it has recently been guaranteed a leading city status in developing marine sectors in East China's Shandong province.

The provincial government released a marine economy development plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) on Nov 9. It noted that efforts should be made to enhance Qingdao's role in bolstering the province's marine economy.

The plan also highlights that Qingdao should seize the opportunity to build a pilot free trade zone and China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area to raise the influence of the SCO Qingdao summit and optimize the allocation of marine resources globally.

The city should also focus on innovating marine science and technology, strengthen the development of high-end marine industries, and accelerate the construction of a global marine center city, according to the plan.

China's coastal regions have laid great emphasis on the marine economy, as it has become a new driving force of economic development.

In Qingdao, rich marine resources and a solid industrial foundation are the city's major advantages in developing the marine economy.

The city is home to nearly 30 first-class marine scientific research institutions, accounting for more than 33 percent of China's total. Of them, the Pilot National Lab for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), which was put into operation in 2015, is China's first national marine laboratory.

The city also has more than 20 academicians with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in marine sectors, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the country's total.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), Qingdao witnessed a significant increase in comprehensive strength of the marine economy after taking a series of initiatives.

They included promoting land-sea coordination, speeding up construction of world-class ports, improving modern marine industrial systems, and maintaining a green and sustainable marine ecological environment.

Since 2019, the city's marine economic development has reached a new high, with the average annual growth rate of marine sectors reaching 10.5 percent over the past three years. In 2020, the marine sector accounted for nearly one-third of the city's GDP.

The plan also said it will support Qingdao Port to build itself into a national port of hydrogen energy, and an international transport hub.

Qingdao Port of the Shandong Port Group, comprising more than 100 productive berths, last year became the fifth-largest in the world in terms of annual cargo throughput.

This year, its competitiveness ranked first in northeast Asia based on the evaluation of 17 representative coastal ports in China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, according to a report released at the 2021 Land-Sea Linkage Qingdao Summit held in October.

On Oct 28, Qingdao Marine Development Bureau issued a five-year marine economic development plan, which takes the building of a global marine center city as a top priority.

By 2025, the influence of Qingdao as a global marine center will be significantly enhanced, according to the city plan.

Moreover, the plan focuses on strengthening marine technology innovation, optimizing the structure of marine industries, promoting the coordinated development of the regional economy, improving marine resources' exploitation, enhancing the construction of marine eco-civilization and deepening opening-up and cooperation in the marine economy.

It also made an in-depth analysis of Qingdao's position and opportunities in marine-related national strategies, and set a development goal that the average annual growth rate of the city's marine GDP reaches about 7 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan. The plan puts forward 11 major indicators, covering six fields of economy, industries, science and technology, opening-up, ecology, and people's livelihoods.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

A fishing spot at Shenlan 1, China's first deep-sea fish farm in Qingdao. CHINA DAILY

Automatic vehicles carry containers to ships at Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group. CHINA DAILY