Chongqing - Southwest China's Chongqing held its economic work conference on December 22 to look ahead to 2025 and set the tone for economic policy in 2026. 

The conference said Chongqing saw a steady pickup in 2025, with GDP growth at 4.3% in the first quarter, 5% in the first half, and 5.3% in the first three quarters, indicating a quarter-by-quarter rebound.

Recent data from January to November also showed strength in industry and trade. Industrial investment grew 10.2%, and total imports and exports increased 13.7%. Sales of new energy vehicles jumped 37.2%, reinforcing Chongqing's drive to climb the automotive value chain.

Chongqing’s economic growth performance in 2025. (Graphics/Chen Zhan)

At the same time, the conference highlighted nationwide challenges, including soft demand, low-quality investments, and weak profitability at certain companies. 

One priority was the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, a central government-backed plan to build a stronger growth pole in western China. The conference indicated a shift from building the framework to raising the region's overall capacity, including a push for innovation and large industrial clusters.

For example, the plan calls for coordinated efforts to build new trillion-yuan industrial clusters and accelerate the growth of three core sectors: intelligent connected new energy vehicles, software and information services, and food and agricultural product processing.

Meanwhile, the agenda puts a strong emphasis on boosting consumption and expanding effective investment. It also highlights the need to refine consumer goods trade-in programs and tap new growth in services consumption.

Technology and governance were also on the agenda. The conference called for deeper "Digital Chongqing" development and broader use of artificial intelligence to strengthen the city's ability to manage services, security, and day-to-day administration. It also referenced plans to bring additional computing resources into Chongqing to support AI applications.

Chongqing’s key priorities for 2026. (Graphics/Chen Zhan)