On the afternoon of January 3, the sixth meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs noted that promoting the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle will help foster a growth pole for high-quality development in western China.

China encourages Chongqing and Chengdu to play a leading role in creating high-quality development spaces based on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

They, situated in Southwest China, are both national central cities. Chengdu-Chongqing City Cluster covers a land of 185,000 km², involving 42 cities (districts) and counties housing nearly 100 million people.

Its economy grew from 3.76 trillion yuan in 2014 to around 6 trillion yuan in 2018, which growth rate topped its counterparts in the country. Its economic size accounted for over one-third of that of the Western China City Cluster.

Expediting the opening-up of China contributes to the rapid growth of the Chengdu-Chongqing City Cluster. Poor logistics once restricted opening up and development of Western China. Responding to that, extensive international channels connect the area with the outside world and make it the junction of the BRI and the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Chongqing and Chengdu now become the world’s significant bases for electronic information and automobile manufacturing, with fast-expanding cross-border e-commerce, automobile import, high-end manufacturing, and other emerging businesses. The two cities have welcomed roughly 600 Fortune Global 500 companies altogether and 12 and 14 consulates respectively, ranking first two in Western China.

In July 2019, Chongqing and Sichuan signed Major Working Plan on Deepening Sichuan-Chongqing Cooperation and Advancing Chengdu-Chongqing City Cluster Integrated Development. They set forth 36 key goals concerning nine fields, including strategic collaboration and planning convergence, infrastructure connectivity, opening-up channel, and platform construction and industrial cooperation for win-win outcomes. The aim is to power the integrated development of the Chengdu-Chongqing City Cluster via collaboration.

Yi Xiaoguang, Director of Chongqing Comprehensive Economy Research Institute, believed the vast land area and abundant labor resources give Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle the competitive factor cost and great development potential, which is conducive to the economic growth in China. Moreover, the node linking the Belt and Road and Yangtze River Economic Belt is also going to play a crucial part in deep collaboration between the country and Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

“A new growth pole for high-quality development in western China is a new opportunity for both China and the world,” said Yi.