On the morning of August 26, the Jiangsu Provincial Government Information Office held a series of thematic press conferences on "Resolutely shouldering the responsibility of economic provinces to shoulder the main responsibilities", and the second release focused on "strive to the first place in promoting deep-level reform and high-level opening up." It was introduced at the meeting that in the first half of this year, Jiangsu achieved a regional GDP of 6.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%, 0.4 percentage points higher than the national average, and the economic growth continued to remain the first in the country. The total foreign trade import and export volume in the province reached 2.81 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%, setting a record high in the same period; of which exports increased by 9.4%, exceeding expectations; the actual use of foreign capital was US$11.54 billion, maintaining the largest scale in the country.

Shen Jianrong, director of the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission, introduced that since this year, Jiangsu has insisted on giving full play to the leading role of economic system reform, highlighting key points and overcoming difficulties, and has continued to make new progress in five aspects: building a unified national market, expanding effective investment, optimizing the business environment, urban-rural integrated development and high-level opening up.

In terms of building a unified national market, Jiangsu focuses on breaking down local protection, market segmentation and disorderly competition, and promoting the efficient circulation of resource factors. The "Jiangsu Province Data Regulations" was issued, the provincial data group was established, and the orderly transaction of public data was promoted; the proportion of logistics costs in the whole society in GDP was 1.2 percentage points lower than the national average.

In terms of expanding effective investment and smoothing the domestic circulation, Jiangsu regards the construction of major projects as an important means to stabilize growth. In the first half of the year, 500 major projects in provinces completed investment of 423.2 billion yuan, implemented large-scale equipment renewal, and driven investment of 64 billion yuan; expanded support for consumer goods traded in new products, driving sales of consumer goods in related fields of over 170 billion yuan. A number of measures were taken to expand consumption and several special measures were introduced to boost consumption. In the first half of the year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the province was 2.39 trillion yuan, an increase of 5% year-on-year.

In terms of optimizing the business environment, Jiangsu has ranked among the best province with reputation in the country for five consecutive years. This year, the "Action Plan for Optimizing the Business Environment (2025 Edition)" was issued, with the total number of business entities in the province reaching 14.61 million. In the first half of the year, the added value of private industrial above-scale increased by 8.7% year-on-year, and the market vitality continued to increase.

In terms of urban-rural integration and regional coordinated development, Jiangsu has promoted the urbanization of agricultural migrant population and the equalization of public services. In the first half of the year, the income ratio of urban-rural residents fell to 1.98, 0.44 percentage points lower than the national average. The high-quality development of the marine economy has achieved obvious results, with a GDP exceeding 1 trillion yuan.

In terms of high-level opening up, Jiangsu has implemented the new negative list for foreign investment access, and the restrictions on foreign investment access in manufacturing have been fully cleared. The province has invested 400 Fortune 500 companies; in the first half of the year, the import and export volume of countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" was 1.39 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.5% year-on-year, accounting for nearly half of the province's total foreign trade volume.

Ni Haiqing, deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce, introduced that in the first half of the year, by stabilizing the basic foundation of foreign trade and foreign investment, the whole province will "take the lead". From January to July, the import and export scale of Jiangsu Province hit a record high in the same period, contributing more than 18% of the national foreign trade increase; the proportion of imports and exports to countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" increased to nearly 50%, and the export of advantageous products such as electric vehicles and ships increased by 124.8% and 32.1% respectively. The actual use of foreign capital was US$12.41 billion, ranking first in the country, accounting for 19% of the country, and the scale of profit reinvestment was the first in the country for six consecutive years. This year, Jiangsu took the lead in building the "Foreign Trade Excellent China Tour Jiangsu Station" event platform in the country. It has held about 50 domestic sales events, helping more than 2,200 foreign trade companies to develop internally and externally.

Yangzi Evening News/Zi Niu News Reporter Xu Jing