Dalian offers incentives for international investment
Summer Davos Forum focuses global spotlight on Liaoning port city
At the Dalian Port automobile terminal in Dalian Jinpu New Area in Northeast China's Liaoning province, China's 10th State-level new area, vehicles are loaded on the China-Europe freight train bound for Central Asia. Since the establishment of the Dalian Area of the China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Dalian Port has become a primary choice for the transportation of commercial vehicles as it enjoys policy advantages of the pilot free trade zone.
In 2023, the zone exported of 60,000 commercial vehicles from Dayaowan Port, representing a 52 percent year-on-year increase. During the same period, container throughput reached 4.93 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), up 12 percent year-on-year. Crude oil throughput amounted to 36.11 million metric tons, an 8.3 percent increase year-on-year.
Liaoning Port Group's Dalian Port engages in trade with more than 160 countries and more than 300 ports across the globe. More than 70 percent of foreign trade cargo transportation and more than 98 percent of the foreign trade container throughput in Northeast China are being handled there.
Li Guangyu, deputy director of the business environment construction bureau of the Dalian Area of the Liaoning FTZ, said the hosting the Summer Davos Forum in Dalian "has broadened our international perspective and allowed more domestic and foreign enterprises to understand the Dalian FTZ. We will take the Summer Davos Forum as an opportunity to accelerate construction of an investment environment in line with international norms, benchmark international standards to build a trade facilitation environment, shape sounder government integrity and create a better environment for business development".
High-quality development
The 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, is taking place in Dalian from Tuesday to Thursday. By hosting the forum, the city gains closer insight into the pulse of global economic development, driving the convergence of its world-class resources. As a host city of the Summer Davos Forum, Dalian has integrated a global perspective into its "Six Developments": accelerating construction of a modern industrial system with a developed real economy; serving as a regional center in technology and innovation with national influence; serving as a high-level open hub connecting home and abroad; becoming a modern marine city with coordinated land-sea development; being a model city with a business environment favored by the near and attractive to those from afar; serving as an international coastal tourist destination favorable for living, working and traveling.
The high-quality development of "Two Pioneering Zones" — widely known as the Pioneering Zone with Optimized Industrial Structure and the Pioneering Zone of Economic and Social Development — is also emphasized by local authorities.
Innovation in industries
Dalian is accelerating the transformation and upgrading of its traditional industries while promoting development of new quality productive forces. For example, the CRRC Dalian, a subsidiary of CRRC, is exploring new energy transformation. In 2022, the company launched the FXD3H shunting locomotive, which utilizes an overhead line and battery combination as the power source to achieve zero emissions and low noise during shunting operations.
"To give an analogy, the operation of shunting locomotives is like encountering traffic jams in our daily lives, where vehicles need to repeatedly start and stop or move at low speeds. In such cases, fuel combustion in vehicles is inefficient, leading to not only fuel wastage but also significant environmental pollution," said Dong Fei, chief designer of the company's development department.
As the first demonstration enterprise to advance the 5G and industrial internet application in Dalian, Dalian Yaming Auto Parts is a beneficiary in the race to intelligent production. Inside the company's die-casting workshop, robotic arms seamlessly perform tasks like picking, cooling, trimming and spraying without human intervention. In the visualized production command center, production system data is clear and visible, ensuring real-time coordination.
Xiao Qingyang, deputy general manager of Dalian Yaming Auto Parts, said: "Through intelligent development, we can control the production process and product technology. It has enhanced product quality, improved market competitiveness and upgraded the company's manufacturing and management capabilities."
Dalian Zhuyun Intelligence Manufacturing, formerly the information department of Dalian Yaming Auto Parts, is a representative case of the company's digital transformation. Through deploying intelligent manufacturing systems in the Yaming factory, it has achieved digitization of workshop operations. Zhuyun Intelligence has empowered dozens of enterprises' digital transformation, aiding foundry companies in achieving efficient production. This year, the company will continue to introduce new technologies, incorporating artificial intelligence, big data and other innovations into production to enhance competitiveness and innovation.
Dalian is also accelerating development of strategic emerging industries. In March, Dalian Rongke Power, a service provider for vanadium redox flow batteries, won the bid for the 200MW/1000MWh vanadium flow battery energy storage project of Three Gorges Energy. Rongke Power is a notable player in the new energy storage field after conquering a series of core technological challenges such as electrochemical basics and cell stack technology, and it has implemented nearly 40 vanadium flow battery projects. After deploying more than 720 megawatt-hours of vanadium battery energy storage systems, Rongke occupied 60 percent of the global vanadium battery market and captured 90 percent of the global market for vanadium electrolyte materials. The company has established a complete industry chain from raw materials to energy storage equipment manufacturing, earning a spot in the Global Unicorn Index 2024 released by Hurun Research Institute.
At the production base of Dalian Rongke Power in Puwan New Area, rows of container-sized vanadium flow batteries are neatly arranged. After installation and testing, they will be delivered for use across the country.
Wang Xiaoli, general manager of Rongke Power, said: "These containerized battery unit modules are mainly composed of cell stacks, electrolytes, power controls and piping systems. The cell stack is like the engine in a car because it determines the power output, while the electrolyte is like gasoline in the fuel tank because it determines the duration of battery power transmission. Just as a good car has stronger power and longer endurance, the same principle is applied to our products."
Behind industrial innovation lies technological innovation — and Dalian has implemented a strategy of innovative development. Currently, Dalian has 115 national-level scientific and technological innovation platforms and 635 platforms at city-level or above. The city is home to nine national key laboratories. In 2023, the Dalian Artificial Intelligence Computing Center was approved as a national new generation AI public computing power innovation platform.
At Yinggeshi Science City in the western area of Dalian High-tech Industrial Zone, high-level laboratories are emerging. Main structure construction of the Dalian Advanced Light Source's large-scale scientific user facility has been completed. As well, around 300,000 square meters of projects for the National Key Laboratory of Energy Catalytic Conversion; the National Key Laboratory of Industrial Equipment Structure Analysis and Optimization and CAE Software; Liaoning Binhai Laboratory; Liaoning Huanghai Laboratory; Dalian Lingshuiwan Laboratory; labs with Dalian University of Technology; and the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reached their key construction phase and are undergoing internal and external decoration and construction. The first batch of 238 segmented laboratories or research teams with 1,891 scientific talents will be stationed there.
Upon completion, the area will be developed into an innovation center with international influence, an energy innovation center, a crucial driving force for strategic technology, a hub for high-end innovative elements, and a source center for fostering cutting-edge emerging industries. It is a significant high-level scientific and technological innovation platform for Dalian to plan for future technological innovation, ignite new momentum for scientific cooperation, and construct new patterns for technological development.
Connecting the world
The Summer Davos Forum is a platform that connects the world and formulates the future. Dalian engages with global elites during the event, embracing opportunities to participate in the division of labor and cooperation in international economic development. The city also integrates its industries into the global industry chain and enhances its international influence. In the process of constructing a high-level gateway that is open for both domestic and global participants, Dalian is building up high-level openness, local officials said.
In March, the 5A-grade international office building Dalian Exchange Square opened in the city's Donggang Business District. Invested and developed by the China branch of Orix, a Japanese diversified financial services group, the project leverages the platform of Orix to access global resources. The project is approximately 1 kilometer from the Dalian International Conference Center, the venue of the Summer Davos Forum. At the 2009 Summer Davos Forum, Orix established a connection with Dalian and then became the first multinational financial group to set up its China headquarters in the city.
The Summer Davos Forum is also a window that propels Dalian's deepening external openness. Leveraging the forum, Dalian showcases its investment environment and advantageous industries to the world, creating a platform for investment attraction and intelligence introduction. Globalized enterprises also have close interaction with Chinese resources and markets during the event. At previous Summer Davos Forums, Dalian has promoted projects, facilitated the signing of agreements, established connections and streamlined investment cooperation.
By launching Dalian's regulations on the promotion of foreign investment, the city is constructing itself as a bench mark city for a business-friendly environment, in a bid to attract foreign investment while adhering to the principle of consistency between domestic and foreign capital.
Dalian has enacted numerous local regulations supporting foreign investment, and various policy measures have been introduced to expand channels for attracting foreign capital, stabilize the scale of foreign investment, and improve the quality of foreign capital. Leveraging the advantages of the pilot free trade zone, the city has accumulated innovative experience in promoting, protecting and managing foreign investment. To date, Dalian has attracted more than 17,000 foreign-invested enterprises, with 124 Fortune 500 companies investing in 288 local projects. Major projects have driven the expansion of industrial cooperation, leading to upgrades of industries such as integrated circuits, equipment manufacturing, automobiles and components.
Moreover, the city is gearing up efforts to become an international coastal tourist destination for living, working and traveling by polishing its culture and coastal resources. Visitors can appreciate the coastal scenery along the coastal roads, witness intangible cultural heritage, experience traditional Chinese medicine massages, and much more.
In 2023, Dalian received an 87.84 percent year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals, totaling 157.49 percent of the 2019 level; tourist income increased by 183.13 percent year-on-year, totaling 185.58 percent of the 2019 level. Recently, the fifth Gangdong Street gained popularity on the internet. The Dalian Party committee and local government launched a series of measures to help tourists better experience the place's charm. A variety of new services are now available, including free drinking water stations, traffic guidance and tourist bus lines.
Located on the southernmost tip of Liaodong Peninsula, Dalian faces the Bohai and Yellow seas. Including islands, it boasts a coastline of 2,211 km, the longest among Chinese cities. Dalian is famous for its seafood. It is actively promoting the development of ready-to-cook seafood. In January, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the Dalian Night cultural soiree showcased local seafood dishes, bringing the city's flavors to the world stage.
Deng Entang, president of the Dalian Premade-food Industry Association, said that through international platforms like the Davos Forum, the reputation of Dalian's marine products has significantly increased. The association will strive to accelerate the development of marine food, turning Dalian's high-quality seafood ingredients into delicious dishes exported to a broader international market.
Dalian has deeply engaged with the Summer Davos Forum since the city first hosted it in 2007, bringing the city closer to the world and broadening its international perspective.
