The fourth session of the 13th Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People's Congress kicked off in Nanning, capital of Guangxi, on Jan 21, with the aim of laying out a blueprint for the region's future development.

Lan Tianli, acting chairman of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, delivered the 2020 government work report, noting that Guangxi is set to devote more effort to developing border trade and speeding up opening up and cooperation with ASEAN countries.

Lan Tianli, acting chairman of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, delivers the 2020 government work report during the meeting. [Photo by Yu Jing/chinanews.com]

Three cities and eight counties (districts) in Guangxi border Vietnam, which shares a 696-kilometer boundary in land and a 1,595-km boundary in sea with China.

Lan said that accelerating the innovative development of border trade will be one of the key focuses for Guangxi in 2021. 

The region will promote pilot projects for the processing of border trade goods and resume the operation of border trade areas such as Dongxing Wharf.

A batch of import and export processing bases, international industrial capacity cooperation bases and trade service bases will be built to form a cluster based around ASEAN processing trade, and a distinctive border and coastal economic belt will be developed.

Explorations will be made in building demonstration zones in border areas to undertake industry transfers, and in upgrading border industrial parks, forming cross-border industrial chains for areas spanning electronic information, the deep processing of agricultural and sideline products as well as furniture manufacturing.

Renovation projects for border expressways such as G219 have also been put on the agenda. High-speed railway lines will extend to two border ports, namely Dongxing and Pingxiang, and several other border ports will be connected via expressway.

The fourth session of the 13th Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People's Congress commences in Nanning on Jan 21. [Photo by Yu Jing/chinanews.com]

Lan pointed out that Guangxi will take further steps to turn the China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) into an event that will better serve the member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

At present, Guangxi has been speeding up the construction of major platforms such as the open financial gateway for ASEAN, the China-ASEAN Information Harbor and the Fangchenggang International Medical Opening-up Pilot Zone, facilitating circulation channels between domestic and ASEAN markets, enhancing economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN countries, cultivating new foreign trade models including cross-border electronic commerce, and promoting the construction of China-ASEAN cross-border industrial parks and logistics systems.

In 2021, Guangxi will set its sights on the construction of projects including a China-ASEAN digital economic industrial park and a China-ASEAN economic and trade center while deepening collaboration with ASEAN countries in education, achieving all-round opening up and cooperation.

In addition, Lan summarized Guangxi's achievements in "leap-forward" development, as the year 2020 marked the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

The region conducted a total of 4,607 sea-rail intermodal freight trains along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in 2020, with a year-on-year growth of 105 percent. The container throughput of Beibu Gulf ports reached 5.05 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2020.

The number of companies settling in the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone amounted to 21,000 by 2020 and the overall number of financial institutes being introduced to the China-ASEAN Financial Town reached 162.

The total import and export volume of Guangxi during the 13th Five-Year Plan period achieved an annual growth of 8.8 percent on average, and 48.9 percent of the volume was made between the region and ASEAN.

Guangxi has signed 2,302 projects with State-owned companies, private companies, and Greater Bay Area companies in 2020, with an overall investment of 3.4 trillion yuan ($524.92 billion).

广西“十四五”蓝图“谋边布局” 拓展对东盟开放合作

2021年是“十四五”开局之年。站在新的历史起点上，地处中国南疆、毗邻东盟的广西将作出何种发展新布局，引发外界关注。

广西壮族自治区十三届人大四次会议21日在南宁开幕。广西壮族自治区代主席蓝天立在会上做政府工作报告，勾画出广西面向未来的目标路线图：广西将谋“边”布局，加速对东盟全方位开放合作。

开局之年做足“边”文章

广西地处中越边境，3市8县（区）与越南接壤，陆地边界线长696公里、海岸线长1595公里。“十四五”开局之年，广西将做足“边”的文章。

蓝天立表示，广西2021年的工作重点之一，是加快边境贸易创新发展，实施“百企入边”行动，开展边境口岸建设大会战，推动龙邦、水口等口岸扩大开放。

具体而言，广西将积极推动边民互市进口商品落地加工试点，恢复东兴码头等互市点运营，力争边民互市贸易额增长20%以上。推进一批进出口加工基地、国际产能合作基地、商贸服务基地建设，发展面向东盟的加工贸易集群，打造富有特色优势的边海经济带。

广西将探索建立沿边承接产业转移示范区，推进凭祥三诺、东兴华立、龙邦万生隆等跨境产业平台建设，推动沿边地区园区提质升级，加快构建电子信息、机电和汽车零配件、农副产品深加工、家具制造及配件等跨境制造业产业链。

“十四五”期间，广西沿边公路G219提级改造等一批交通项目已被提上日程，东兴、凭祥两个边境口岸将开行高速铁路，多个边境口岸将通行高速公路。

构建多平台向东盟开放

在广西与东盟开放合作的众多平台中，已连续举办17届的中国—东盟博览会和中国—东盟商务与投资峰会是其中成效最显著的平台之一。

蓝天立指出，广西将努力在引领中国—东盟开放合作中形成特色鲜明的国际合作和竞争新优势，推动上述平台从服务“10+1”向服务RCEP和“一带一路”拓展。

高水平共建西部陆海新通道、北部湾国际门户港扩能优服工程也将加速推进。“十四五”期间，广西将建成千万标箱北部湾港，开工建设西部陆海新通道（平陆）运河。高标准建设中国（广西）自贸试验区，构建面向东盟的跨境产业链供应链价值链。

当前，广西在加快建设面向东盟的金融开放门户、中国—东盟信息港、南宁临空经济示范区、防城港国际医学开放试验区和东兴、凭祥、百色国家重点开发开放试验区等重大平台的同时，还在不断畅通国内市场和东盟市场循环大通道，加强与东盟国家经贸合作，培育发展跨境电商等外贸新业态新模式，推进中国—东盟跨境产业园和物流体系建设。

2021年，广西将重点加快中国—东盟检验检测认证高技术服务集聚区二期项目建设，打造中国—东盟数字经济产业园，建成中国—东盟经贸中心，深化与东盟国家教育交流合作，加快拓展与东盟全方位开放合作。

开放合作“成绩单”亮眼

2020年是“十三五”收官之年。当天，蓝天立做政府工作报告时，用一串数据呈现了广西开放合作实现新跨越的成果：西部陆海新通道海铁联运班列开行4607列、增长105%，北部湾港集装箱吞吐量505万标箱；中国（广西）自贸试验区入驻企业达2.1万家；中国—东盟金融城引进金融机构总数达162家……

他介绍，得益于上述成果，“十三五”期间广西进出口总额年均增长8.8%，对东盟进出口额占外贸总值48.9%。面向东盟的金融开放门户还形成了15项中国首创可复制可推广经验。

也因上述特殊的商机，2020年广西引来了大批央企、民企、湾企入桂，签约项目2302个，总投资3.4万亿元人民币，当年履约率近八成。