Report on the Progress of High-Level Opening-Up and Construction of High-Capability Open Platforms in Qiantang (New) District

(Delivered at the 46th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the First Qiantang District People's Congress on May 29, 2026)

Dear Director, Vice Directors, and Members,

Entrusted by the District Government, I now report to the 46th Meeting of the First Session of the District People's Congress Standing Committee on the work of Qiantang (New) District in advancing high-level opening-up and building high-energy-level open platforms, for your deliberation.

On March 21, 2025, the BRICS Special Economic Zone China Cooperation Center was officially inaugurated. As the first national-level platform mechanism in the BRICS economic and trade field, it aims to promote pragmatic cooperation among special economic zones of BRICS countries. Leveraging the superimposed advantages of high-energy-level platforms including the Economic Development Zone, High-tech Zone, Pilot Free Trade Zone, Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone and the BRICS Center (the "five zones and one center"), Qiantang District has made continuous efforts in opening-up fields such as strengthening investment attraction, stabilizing foreign trade and promoting opening-up in 2025. The actual utilized foreign capital reached 536 million US dollars, ranking top 5 across the province. In 2025, the total import and export volume of foreign trade increased by 10.2% year on year, with the scale of goods import, export and total import and export all ranking top 10 in the province. The container throughput of Xiasha Port in 2025 reached 192,800 TEUs, up 33% year on year, with its growth rate ranking first in Zhejiang Province.

I. Work Progress

(I) Deepen high-level opening-up and focus on high-quality investment attraction. First, expand and strengthen high-value investment attraction to drive upgrading. Giving full play to the superimposed advantages of multiple zones, focusing on "one platform, one industrial chain" to promote two-way investment and industrial chain cooperation, high-quality foreign capital has been gradually attracted to gather in high-tech industries such as biomedicine and advanced manufacturing. In 2023, the Pfizer Innovation Center project, an investment of the Fortune Global 500, was successfully introduced and settled. In 2024, the Yokohama Rubber project with a total investment of 500 million US dollars was launched, which became the largest single wholly foreign-owned manufacturing project introduced in Hangzhou in the past ten years. In 2025, the Bicheng New Energy foreign-funded project was settled. The district has gathered more than 1,900 foreign-funded enterprises and 86 investment projects of Fortune Global 500 companies, committed to building a landmark strategic large-scale opening-up platform. Second, accelerate the innovation of business formats. We will continue to unlock the advantages of carriers such as the BRICS Center and the Zhejiang-Africa Service Center, enhance the capabilities of international investment cooperation and global resource integration, and actively promote the clustered development of R&D centers of foreign-funded enterprises. A total of 16 provincial-level foreign-funded R&D centers including I-Mab, Doer Biologics, Siemens and NexMemory have been accredited, ranking first in the city in total number, covering high-tech fields such as biomedicine, smart manufacturing and intelligent IoT, which serve as a core engine driving regional innovation and development and help our district build a regional innovation source. Third, improve the quality and efficiency of foreign-funded services. Focusing on optimizing the business environment, a special service zone for foreign-funded enterprises has been set up in the district administrative service center. In 2025, more than 50 issues including policy consultation and talent services for foreign-funded enterprises were coordinated and resolved through one-stop services, continuously improving the business environment for foreign investment. At the same time, relying on the quarterly roundtable meeting for foreign-funded enterprises, we regularly listen to the development plans and actual demands of enterprises, and accurately and closed-loop solve various problems encountered by enterprises in their operation such as investment, production and labor use. Since the beginning of this year, the global R&D headquarters of Panasonic Group's home appliance sector and Stäubli's second largest global R&D center have successively settled in Qiantang. The cases that foreign-funded enterprises continue to be optimistic about Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone and continue to increase their investment have been recognized by the leaders of the Ministry of Commerce.

(II) Expand the high-level opening-up landscape and implement a comprehensive set of measures to steadily optimize foreign trade. First, empower through platforms to promote diversified market expansion. Leveraging the advantages of open platforms such as the BRICS Center, Pilot Free Trade Zone, Comprehensive Bonded Zone and Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, we will continue to deepen economic and trade cooperation with BRICS countries and countries along the Belt and Road, and actively organize enterprises to explore emerging markets in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, so as to promote the diversification of the foreign trade market structure. In the field of goods trade, our district's exports to BRICS countries reached 17.5 billion yuan in 2025, up 33.73% year on year. The BRICS market has gradually become a new growth pole of the district's foreign trade. Second, strengthen resource integration to promote diversified development of foreign trade. Focusing on the demands of enterprises for "going global" and international cooperation, we will actively build platforms for economic and trade exchanges, industrial cooperation and supply chain docking, and make positive progress in fields such as overseas warehouse layout, cross-border logistics coordination and international trade services. In terms of trade in services, the total trade in services reached 1.524 billion US dollars in 2025, up 10.58% year on year. The import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce in 2025 was 8.177 billion yuan, up 26.32% year on year. Third, optimize enterprise services to enhance the resilience of foreign trade development. We will continue to improve the contact and service mechanism for key foreign trade enterprises. During the period of escalating tensions in the Middle East, we immediately investigated the demands of 85 key enterprises in the district that have trade contacts with the Middle East, and timely coordinated and solved the practical difficulties encountered by enterprises in international logistics, route adjustment and tight shipping space. We actively connected with superior departments to promote the extension of the container subsidy policy for the Middle East, helping enterprises further reduce logistics costs and stabilize shipment expectations. Meanwhile, we provided early risk warning and service docking for enterprises with large order fluctuations to enhance their ability to cope with international risks.

(III) Build stronger high-energy-level open platforms to consolidate the foundation for coordinated development between domestic and international markets. First, deepen the construction of systems and standards to ensure the implementation of top-level design. We established the preparatory group for the BRICS Economic and Trade Cooperation Development Promotion Center, held the promotion meeting for the construction of the BRICS Cooperation Center of Qiantang New Area, clarified 37 key tasks in 7 major sectors, and established a three-level linked scheduling mechanism to promote the construction of the "five major centers". We formulated the Construction Plan for Qiantang New Area to Build a "Model of BRICS Special Economic Zones" and supporting special policies, completed the writing of the best practice case of "Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone - Fully Building a Modern Industrial System", providing Qiantang's sample for BRICS special economic zone cooperation. We drafted the Initiative for BRICS Special Economic Zone Cooperation Network, contributing China's solution to institutional cooperation. Second, improve the open ecosystem to promote service integration and upgrading. We operate the provincial-level Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global Comprehensive Service Port, introduced 40 professional institutions, integrated 110 service items, and responded to more than 200 demands of enterprises for overseas expansion. We built the "BRICS Window" and China-Africa Cooperation Industrial Park, constructed a 330,000 ㎡ commercial complex and a 160,000 ㎡ industrial park, building an open hub integrating international meetings, talent gathering and industrial hosting. We pioneered the only "Smart Customs - Cross-border E-commerce Supervision Themed Demonstration Site" among the first 6 demonstration sites across the country, superimposed the "cross-border e-commerce + TIR" mode, and built an integrated open support system of "channel + platform + supervision". Third, accelerate industrial agglomeration to speed up project settlement. Focusing on special economic zone cooperation, we promote the integrated development of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries. We have reserved 32 high-quality cross-border cooperation projects such as the China-Kazakhstan Smart Port, among which the IWG flexible office project and the Sumaidao project (a supply chain integrated operation service provider) have been signed; project companies for projects including Haina China-Europe and China-Kazakhstan Smart Port have been registered. We will accelerate the advancement of the Qiantang BRICS Fund project, and actively introduce financial resources to support industrial agglomeration. Fourth, expand country-specific cooperation to further expand the "circle of friends". We will polish the three major brands of "Invest in BRICS", "Shop in BRICS" and "BRICS Special Economic Zones Dialogue", and hold more than 50 events such as economic and trade docking. Since the BRICS Center was put into regular operation, it has received a total of 4,996 visitors, including 1,374 foreign guests. Focusing on deepening pragmatic cooperation of special economic zones, we have newly established connections with institutions including the Brazilian Association of Export Processing Zones and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and promoted coordinated cooperation with the World Free Zones Organization and Indonesia's Batang Special Economic Zone. The foreign aid training has covered 181 people in 8 batches, from countries including Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria, with content including planning and construction of special economic zones, digital trade and cross-border e-commerce.

II. Existing Problems

First, the global FDI volume is shrinking overall, and the competition between international trade and geopolitics is intensifying, making it more difficult to compete for high-quality foreign-funded projects. The development resilience of existing stock foreign-funded enterprises in our district is generally stable, but the momentum of new foreign-funded reserve projects needs to be further improved. In particular, the capacity to continuously attract and settle landmark major foreign-funded projects, including R&D centers, regional headquarters and high value-added projects, needs to be strengthened.

Second, affected by changing international trade factors such as rising tariff barriers and increasing localized demand in overseas markets, some enterprises have accelerated the layout of overseas production capacity, making it difficult to move production back later. For example, some enterprises in the district are promoting the construction of overseas production bases, setting up factories in Southeast Asia, Mexico and other places to reduce trade friction and logistics costs, and improve their responsiveness to overseas customers. Such layout helps enterprises stabilize orders and expand markets in the short term, but in the long run, it will lead to the outflow of some industrial chain and supply chain links, bringing certain impacts on the supporting capacity of local manufacturing industry and the stabilization of foreign trade.

III. Next-step Work Plan

(I) Further strengthen the aggregation of foreign capital. First, in terms of increment, focus on expanding and innovating investment attraction methods. Focusing on the leading industries of "automobile, biomedicine, chip, chemical industry and intelligent manufacturing", we will leverage exhibition platforms such as the China International Import Expo and the Global Digital Trade Expo to target and capture information of suitable high-quality foreign-funded projects; strengthen cooperation with overseas investment promotion, venture capital and fund institutions, increase the intensity of foreign capital attraction targeting different countries, regions and industrial chains, and simultaneously promote the attraction of overseas capital through modes such as attracting foreign investment via private enterprises, so as to build a collaborative development cluster of industrial chains. Second, in terms of stock, focus on business environment services and guarantees for enterprises. For key foreign-funded enterprises, we will carry out targeted "point-to-point" policy publicity, focusing on covering policies such as tax credit for profit reinvestment and provincial-level R&D centers, guiding enterprises to release economic benefits, carry out scientific research and innovation or make reinvestment. We will continue to improve the value-added service windows and the roundtable meeting for foreign-funded enterprises, dynamically collect various demands of enterprises in the development process and their intention information of capital increase and production expansion, provide customized implementation plans, and continuously enhance Qiantang's "investment confidence and development stickiness" for foreign-funded enterprises.

(II) Further optimize the quality and efficiency of foreign trade. First, in terms of "stabilization", we will continue to strengthen the operation monitoring of key foreign trade enterprises and key industries, focus on the export situation of key sectors of auto parts and home appliances, increase the frequency of enterprise visits and services, timely coordinate and solve problems in logistics and transportation, exchange rate fluctuation, financing guarantee and trade friction, and try our best to stabilize key enterprises, key orders and key markets to prevent further decline in exports. Second, in terms of "expansion", relying on open platforms and brands such as the BRICS Center, Zhejiang-Africa Center, and "Qiantang-made Global Brands", we will actively help enterprises explore emerging markets in ASEAN, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, support enterprises to participate in the Canton Fair and key overseas exhibitions, encourage enterprises to expand channels and grab orders, and promote the transformation of market layout from single market to diversified markets. Third, in terms of "optimization", we will accelerate the optimization of foreign trade structure, support advantageous industries such as new energy, high-end equipment and new materials to expand exports, guide traditional manufacturing enterprises to upgrade towards high value-added, independent brands and digitalization, further enhance product competitiveness and supply chain resilience, and promote the accelerated stabilization and recovery of the district's foreign trade.

(III) Further consolidate the construction of open platforms. First, focus on industrial breakthroughs and deepen economic and trade cooperation. Leveraging the China-Arab States Artificial Intelligence Application Cooperation Center, we will strengthen project attraction and industrial cooperation in key fields such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine and new energy vehicles. The BRICS Center shall strengthen resource integration, increase cooperation with companies including Alibaba, MIE Group, Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group and Sumaidao. We will accelerate the operation of the BRICS Fund, promote the delivery of a number of project outcomes, guide enterprises to carry out reasonable and orderly cross-border layout, and continuously enhance the international popularity and influence of the BRICS Center. Second, strengthen comprehensive services and create open scenarios. We will make good use of the overseas comprehensive service platform and actively introduce professional service institutions. Cooperate with Hangzhou to plan and build the "five BRICS centers" including visa service center, exhibition and sales center and training center, to build a one-stop service platform. Promote the construction and operation of the offline experience scenario of "Shop in BRICS", innovate the "front store, back warehouse" mode, create a new consumption scenario for BRICS products that integrates online and offline channels, and take the consumption scenario as the carrier to deeply integrate comprehensive service functions. Expand the field of foreign-related legal services to help enterprises steadily carry out BRICS economic and trade cooperation. Third, promote institutional breakthroughs and strengthen standard docking. We will actively organize "industry + standardization" academic exchange activities, promote the establishment of an industrial standard dialogue mechanism, launch research topics such as BRICS standard interconnection, and boost the formulation of international standards. We will accelerate the implementation of the Construction Plan for Qiantang New Area to Build a "Model of BRICS Special Economic Zones", and strive for the support of policy clauses for the full industrial chain opening-up and innovation of biomedicine. Fourth, deepen international cooperation and strengthen capacity building. We will promote the release of the Initiative for BRICS Special Economic Zone Cooperation Network, strengthen the attraction of BRICS international institutions to settle down, and continuously expand the external liaison network. We will strengthen docking with universities and key enterprises in the district, explore the targeted international student delivery mode of "University + Enterprise + BRICS" to strengthen capacity building.

Article source: Qiantang District Bureau of Commerce