China's Chongqing is being transformed into global investment destination, attracting international projects and talent

CHONGQING, China, Aug. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Most recently gaining international stature as the eastern terminus of the Chongqing-Sinkiang-Europe International Railway connecting Eurasia, the city of Chongqing in the western part of China has maintained its leading position in terms of GDP among the country's provinces and direct-controlled municipalities for 13 consecutive quarters. The city has not only become one of the regions in the country experiencing the fastest economic growth, it is also the world's largest laptop manufacturing base and the country's largest automobile production base. The city is currently hosting the Chongqing International Talent Innovation Entrepreneurship Symposium, the grand international gathering event for professionals worldwide, with the mission of recruiting the best that the world can offer in term of talent from all over the world.

Since 2014, Chongqing has maintained a double-digit GDP growth rate, topping China's other provinces and cities, creating the "Chongqing" phenomenon passionately discussed by the country's financial and business communities.

The rapid economic growth coupled with an industrial restructuring has led to the inland city's strong demand for talent. By 2020, the city's key emerging industry segments are expected to need over 60,000 R&D specialists, 80,000 IT professionals and 110,000 individuals with skills in other sectors, translating into a recruitment drive calling for more than 250,000 skilled talents.

Considering the increasing cost of living in the country's eastern provinces and cities, many professionals from these regions have chosen to relocate to some of the country's inland cities, including Chongqing. With the amount of investment that has been heaped on the latest hotspot, Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, the city has become very attractive to the China's young generation of university graduates. Similar to Shanghai Pudong New Area and Tianjin Binhai New Area, Liangjiang New Area, located at the intersection of one of the main routes of the One Belt, One Road initiative, the Chinese government's program to enhance ties with the countries of Eurasia, and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, has become an area targeted by the central government for major development. Since 2010, the new area has been attracting foreign investment amounting to, on average, US$4 billion per year. The ongoing inflow of talent and capital is contributing to the city's drive to transform itself into an international hub and port connecting the Yangtze River Belt to Central Asian and European markets.

With the demands being created by the city's ongoing growth and the continuing influx of talent, Chongqing has identified the advantages that differentiate it from other rapidly growing cities as well as its unique requirements in terms of the rapidly increasing need for a professional workforce. The city is again hosting the Chongqing International Talent Innovation Entrepreneurship Symposium this year, attracting some of the world's top professionals and most innovative projects. The municipality's government and top event organizers look forward to building the symposium into the country's brand gala event attracting overseas talent.

Debuting in 2015, this major event for the recruitment of the world's leading talents has now been held for two consecutive years, convincing 347 top managers and executives to make the move while drawing in 212 projects backed by capital amounting to 4.52 billion yuan (approx. US$678 million). In 2016, over 400 top-level talented individuals from various parts of China as well as from 21 countries and regions worldwide attended the symposium in search of new opportunities. 

Accordingly, in its recruitment drive, the symposium will continue to search for the best that the world can offer this year, holding competitions in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as in Silicon Valley (US), Oxford (UK) and Singapore, in a move to bring in more projects and the necessary talent to assist in their management. The organizing committee commented that students from China studying in several other cities around the US including Chicago expressed their desire to see the competition expanded into other cities beyond Silicon Valley.

The popularity of Chongqing among professionals and other talented individuals is also attributable to the benefits and the salaries on offer. The city issued two circulars outlining the effort to bring in top-level managers: Several Preferential Policies and Regulations to Attract High-level Talent to Chongqing Municipality and Implementation Measures of the 'Swan Goose Program' on Attracting Domestic and Overseas Talent, stating that c-suite-level and similar managerial level professionals can enjoy a one-off relocation grant of up to 2 million yuan (approx. US$300,000). Incoming executives are rated according to the professional histories, and those with the top rating will earn an annual salary of not less than 2 million yuan (approx. US$300,000) while working in the city.

By virtue of its location in a gateway city that has chosen to make inclusiveness a core part of its philosophy, the new area will allocate not less than 100 million yuan (approx. US$15 million) in a talent fund, one billion yuan (approx. US$150 million) in an innovation and start-up fund and one million square meters in floor space for the housing of the incoming workforce every year.

As stipulated in its recently issued series of support policies, referred to as the Golden 10, Liangjiang New Area will contribute up to 50 million yuan (approx. US$7.5 million) to the required paid-up registered capital of leading companies that choose to relocate or establish a presence there. In terms of providing an equity stake, the new area will reward high-level talents employed by a technology or R&D firm that has granted them stock dividends or allowed them to earn income as a result of an equity transfer with a financial subsidy representing 50 percent of their contributions to the local economy.

The Golden 10 is now recognized as the strongest preferential policy worldwide by local media. The policy continuously receives positive feedback on China's social media platforms.

SOURCE Chongqing Liangjiang New Area