Zigong finds a "secret recipe" that breathes new life into an ageing industrial city

The event provided an opportunity for journalists from international media organizations to witness for themselves the changes taking place during Zigong's transformation into a modern city. In an interview with Huanqiu.com, Li Gang, Secretary of the CPC Zigong Municipal Committee, said that the continual roll out of China's opening up policies have resulted in a similar "opening up" effect on Zigong, a city with unique characteristics as a result of the surrounding area's many regional cultures, the arrival of new technologies and new ideas, and the existence of an outstanding local pool of talents. All of these factors have created an unstoppable force motivating Zigong and its people to rebuild and recreate the city's former glory. "Zigong plans to proactively integrate into the comprehensive transportation network that links together all the points within the Chinese landmass as well as into the pattern of mutual aid between China's eastern and western regions, and to do its bit to help accelerate the development of the country's western region into one that is a chief component of the government's One Belt, One Road initiative.

Li Hongqiang, Member of the CPC Zigong Standing Committee and Deputy Mayor of Zigong Municipal People's Government, during an interview with journalists from international media organizations, said that Zigong will speed up its efforts to build a model city in China that pioneers the transformation of an ageing industrial city into a modern metropolis, establish a pilot region in China's western interior that will become an integral part of One Belt, One Road, and create an international travel destination with unique cultural characteristics. "To achieve these goals, Zigong has launched three major initiatives: roll out of the plan, dubbed the 633 Plan, to transform local industries, adoption of an 'open for world business' approach, and upgrade of the city's burgeoning modern services sector," said Li Hongqiang. "Based on the 59 national and provincial innovation platforms as well as 144 technological innovation platforms already located in the city, the overall initiative calls for the establishment of six emerging industries including high-tech, alongside the development of green food processing as well as textile and garment industries, and the revival of its former thriving salt and salt chemical industries. Furthermore, we will focus on the development of three key industries: the next generation of electronic information, graphene and shale gas."

Since January 1, 2017, when price controls on salt were eliminated, salt producers in China have been allowed to freely enter the salt market, said Fu Gangyi, chairman of Sichuan Jiuda Salt (Group) Corp. The producers have since been allowed to operate autonomously, giving them the opportunity to integrate production and sales. They can now set ex-factory, wholesale and retail prices for their products according to production and operational costs, the quality of the salt they are selling as well as market supply and demand. This has brought salt producers such as Sichuan Jiuda Salt (Group) Corp. unprecedented opportunities and challenges, and a stimulus for Zigong to revive its salt industry and rebuild its position as the "salt capital with thousands of years of history".

Technological innovations are breathing new life into Zigong's traditional salt industry and the industry is now working to expand into upstream and downstream industries, including fruits, vegetables and non-iodized salt, as part of its transformation, said a journalist at Spanish-language La Voz China during an interview with Huanqiu.com.

SOURCE Huanqiu.com