The county-level city of Longkou in Yantai, East China's Shandong province has made huge strides in its development since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, local media reported.

Official data showed that the city's GDP reached 123.66 billion yuan ($17.24 billion) in 2021, while its general public budget revenue totaled 11.2 billion yuan last year. The city's comprehensive strength level jumped to ninth place of the top 100 counties in China and first place in Shandong province, according to the Research Report on Competitiveness of China's Top 100 Counties, which was released by CCID Consulting in July.

In the past decade, Longkou has made remarkable progress in industrial development and  developed 10 major industrial clusters in the fields of high-end chemical engineering, high-end aluminum materials, automobile and spare parts.

Official data showed that from 2012 to 2021, the city implemented 185 key projects at or above the municipal level, generating a total investment of 700 billion yuan.

Efforts were also made to further improve its business environment and inject more vitality into market entities. During the past 10 years, 77,000 new market entities were established, increasing by 216 percent year-on-year, bringing the total number to more than 112,000. Six enterprises went public from 2012 to 2021 and the city is now home to 11 listed companies. The number of A-share listed companies in Longkou ranked first among Shandong counties or county-level cities.

In the last 10 years, Longkou made significant progress in promoting the transformation of growth drivers from old to new, and made constant efforts to push forward innovation-driven development.

Home to 119 high-tech enterprises, the city has achieved rapid, high-quality growth through increased innovation capabilities and financial support for research and development. Official data indicates that the city invested more than 110 billion yuan in technological upgrading during the past decade. Thirty sci-tech innovation platforms above the provincial level have been built in Longkou, and in 2021, the output value of high-tech industries accounted for 74.2 percent of the city's total, 24.6 percentage points higher than that of 2012.

Continuous progress has been made in deepening reform and opening-up. The amount of paid-in foreign capital totaled nearly $1.8 billion, while the actual use of domestic capital reached $94.33 billion yuan during the past 10 years, marking average annual increases of 12.3 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively. The total foreign trade volume exceeded 244.21 billion yuan, with an average annual growth of 7.7 percent.

Efforts have also been made to improve people's livelihoods over the past decade. The city has invested more than 66 billion yuan in ensuring and improving people's well-being, and the development of social programs has been accelerated. Poverty alleviation was completed on schedule with 16,826 people lifted out of poverty.

Longkou has also made comprehensive progress in rural vitalization. New business models such as rural e-commerce have boomed and the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors has been advanced.

The county-level city of Longkou in Yantai, East China's Shandong province has made huge strides in its development since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012. [Photo/Shm News]