The "2024 Chinese and Foreign Media Interviews on the Western Land Sea New Corridor" was recently held in Guangxi and Chongqing. Hou Gang, the mayor of Nanning City, Guangxi, stated in a media interview that Nanning City seizes the significant historical opportunity of the construction of the Pinglu Canal, adheres to the dual development of cross-border industrial integration and "strengthening towards the sea", vigorously develops the economy towards the sea, and builds a China ASEAN cross-border industrial integration and development cooperation zone. The Pinglu Canal starts from the mouth of Pingtang River in Xijin Reservoir Area, Hengzhou City, Nanning in the north, winding southward and straight down to Beibu Gulf, with a total length of 134.2 kilometers. It flows southward from the main stream of Xijiang River into the sea and is a waterway connecting the river and the sea. The Pinglu Canal is the backbone project of the Western Land Sea New Channel. After its completion in 2026, Nanning will only be more than 100 kilometers away from the sea, making it the shortest, most economical, and convenient sea route in Southwest China Hou Gang stated that the construction of the Pinglu Canal is of great significance for optimizing the regional development strategy layout, promoting the connectivity of Nanning to the sea, and enhancing its strength towards the sea. Building a "one body, two wings" industrial development pattern. Nanning is the closest provincial capital city in China to ASEAN and an important node city in the Western Land Sea New Corridor. As of the end of August 2024, the Pinglu Canal (Nanning section) has completed a total investment of 2.049 billion yuan (RMB), accounting for 53.37% of the total investment of 3.839 billion yuan in the Nanning section. One river leads to prosperity in all industries. With the orderly promotion of the construction of the Pinglu Canal Economic Belt, the cultivation of modern industrial corridors is accelerating. Nanning City promotes the planning and construction of the Pinglu Canal Economic Belt with high standards and high-quality services. According to Hou Gang, Nanning City is coordinating the promotion of the "One Body, Two Wings" industrial development pattern: "One Body" relies on the Wuxiang New Area, focusing on the development of advanced manufacturing and high-end productive service industries, and creating an international science and technology innovation center and high-end productive service industry highland facing ASEAN; The "East Wing" relies on the construction of the Pinglu Canal, accelerates the construction of the Eastern New City, and creates the main battlefield for manufacturing development and a demonstration zone for offshore economic development; The "West Wing" relies on the "Two Ports and One Zone" to create a major carrier for the integration and development of cross-border industries between China and ASEAN. In recent years, Nanning has been making every effort to build key industrial clusters such as new energy, new energy vehicles and components, electronic information, chemical new materials, aluminum deep processing, machinery and equipment manufacturing, food processing, and forest products. A number of major projects such as Anda Technology and Ruifu Lithium Industry have been signed and implemented, major projects such as Longdian Huaxin and Chenyu Fuji have started smoothly, and major projects such as Taiyang Paper Phase I and Huaxin Zhenbang have been completed and put into operation. The construction of Nanning (Shenzhen) ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone has achieved initial results. According to statistics, in the first half of this year, Nanning City signed 150 new projects worth 50 million yuan or more, with a total investment of 53.855 billion yuan, including 109 industrial projects with an investment of 43.566 billion yuan. Enhancing the level of channel infrastructure: "Relying on the Pinglu Canal, Nanning is striving to break through the sea and become stronger." Hou Gang said that in recent years, Nanning has accelerated the construction of major transportation infrastructure, improved the level of channel infrastructure, and consolidated the foundation for smooth development both domestically and internationally. In terms of highways, Nanning has formed a "one ring and ten shots" expressway network pattern, with Nanning as the center. The development goals of connecting cities and ports in the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone within 2 hours, 14 prefecture level cities in Guangxi within 4 hours, and neighboring provincial capitals and neighboring capital cities within one day have been basically achieved. In terms of railways, Nanning has formed 10 radial railway lines, basically forming a "meter" shaped main railway transportation network that connects the mainland, Beibu Gulf ports, and Vietnam for passenger and freight separation; The "1234" high-speed rail travel time circle has been achieved, which means that it takes 1 hour to reach the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, 2 hours to reach major cities within the zone, 3 hours to reach core cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and 4 hours to reach surrounding provincial capitals. In terms of aviation, Nanning Wuwei International Airport operates a total of 168 flight routes, including 145 domestic routes and 23 international regional routes; There are 119 navigable cities, including 96 domestic and 23 international cities, which have basically formed a network pattern of air routes covering ASEAN and major cities in China, and have achieved full coverage of air routes in the ten ASEAN countries. In terms of water transportation, as an important port city of the billion ton Xijiang Golden Waterway, Nanning can reach the China Vietnam border and Yunnan Guizhou provinces through the upstream and downstream waterways of the Left and Right Rivers, and directly reach Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. There are 49 berths of over 1000 tons in Nanning Port, with a throughput capacity of 18.4703 million tons per year. Currently, 2000 ton ships can pass directly from Nanning to Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao through Guigang. At the same time, the 3000 ton waterway from Nanning to Guigang has been included in the plan. In addition, Nanning has strengthened the layout and construction of logistics hub nodes, continuously enhancing the hub's radiation and driving role. It has been approved as a land port national logistics hub and a national backbone cold chain logistics base, and has been shortlisted as a supporting city for the 2024 national comprehensive freight hub supply chain. At present, Nanning City has achieved a 12 hour cross-border road transportation from factory to factory with the provinces of Beining and Beijiang in Vietnam. Starting from the end of June 2023, the China Vietnam cross-border fast customs clearance train will operate three trains per week, with a maximum "station to station" travel time of 14.5 hours, achieving "same day departure, same day arrival". Nanning Wuwei International Airport has opened a total of 15 international cargo routes, connecting 6 ASEAN countries and 4 South Asian countries, and the international cargo and mail throughput has been increasing year by year. Creating a world-class business environment is at the forefront and window of China's open cooperation with ASEAN. Nanning City is making good use of the "ASEAN card" and accelerating the construction of an international metropolis and a China ASEAN cross-border industrial integration and development cooperation zone that is open and cooperative with ASEAN. We regard optimizing the business environment as the lifeline of creating an industrial ecosystem, fully serving enterprises and projects, and helping market entities develop and grow Hou Gang said. To attract enterprises from ASEAN countries to settle in, Nanning is accelerating the creation of an international first-class business environment oriented towards ASEAN. The combination of preferential policies in Nanning results in the best corporate income tax rate in the country. For recognized high-level talents, a maximum of 2 million yuan can be given as a first-time home purchase subsidy. For college and vocational school graduates who come to Nanning for development, transportation and rental subsidies will be provided, and youth talent apartments will be provided. Nanning City continuously optimizes its service mechanism, establishes a mechanism for city leaders to contact key enterprises for major project services, a mechanism for enterprises to directly handle their "inability to accomplish tasks" demands, and a system for industrial revitalization special commissioners to contact service enterprises, focusing on solving development problems for enterprises. The city is implementing the "efficient completion of one thing" policy and deepening the reform of "exemption from review and immediate approval" for business license matters related to enterprises. By leveraging its location advantages, market-oriented investment promotion, and policies to support stable growth of enterprises, we aim to attract domestic and foreign enterprises to settle and establish themselves in Nanning. At present, the stock of market entities in Nanning exceeds one million, with over 1500 industrial enterprises above designated size. (New Society)