Chongqing- Southwest China's Chongqing endeavors to increase the number of Fortune 500 companies in the city to 335 and its actual use of foreign capital will have grown at an average annual rate of about 10% by 2027, local authorities said on November 3.

The city has seen a 50.3% increase in automobile exports and is home to 319 Fortune 500 companies, topping the charts in foreign trade and foreign capital utilization leading in western China. 

A freight train serving the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor departs from Chongqing for ASEAN markets in January. (Photo/ Liu Chan)

Zhang Yongwu, director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce and director of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Administrative Bureau (CCIB), highlighted the substantial improvements in Chongqing's open economy. 

He said the city is expected to achieve a foreign trade import and export volume of 1.1 trillion yuan (about 150.3 billion U.S. dollars) and a service trade volume of 160 billion yuan.

As a vital platform for inland opening-up, the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI) has seen fruitful collaborations with Singapore. Notably, from January to September alone, the CCI witnessed the signing of government and commercial cooperation projects worth 390 million U.S. dollars and financial services projects totaling 5.8 billion U.S. dollars, according to Sun Xiyong, deputy director of the CCIB.

Looking ahead to the 10th anniversary of the CCI in 2025, initiatives will take place, including the creation of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Life Science and Technology City and the launch of an international commercial bank to serve the New International Land-sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC). Also, enhanced air connectivity with Singapore and expanding the airport economy will be key targets.

Chongqing is also proactively aligning with major international trade agreements like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) to promote policy innovation, focusing on areas such as multimodal transportation digital documents and streamlined cross-border trade regulations.

The ILSTC has seen remarkable development over the past seven years to create an open inland highland. The Corridor now connects 138 railroad stations across 69 Chinese cities and 473 ports in 120 countries and regions, with the frequency of intermodal train services soaring from 178 in 2017 to 8,820 in 2022 and a container transportation volume exceeding 1.1 million TEUs. The China-Europe freight train (Chengdu-Chongqing) has run nearly 14,000 times, solidifying its national brand presence.

With the ILSTC as a critical driver, Chongqing envisions integrating into the country's multidimensional Belt and Road connectivity network. By 2027, the goal is for the ILSTC and China-Europe freight trains to exceed 5,000 annual departures each, with a 15% yearly increase in freight volume and value, and port cargo throughput surpassing 270 million tons.