China's leading industrial park aims for globally attractive open hub

BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- China has pledged to build one of its leading industrial parks into a globally attractive two-way open hub.

The Ministry of Commerce, in a notice, stressed the support for the Suzhou Industrial Park in east China's Jiangsu Province in promoting reform, opening up key areas, and improving the ability to garner global resources.

Multinationals will be encouraged to establish R&D, sales and distribution centers in the industrial park to promote the development of the headquarters economy. The notice said the pilot on an integrated funds pool of renminbi and foreign currencies would be deepened, with more convenient cross-border receipts and payments.

According to the notice, qualified medical institutions will be encouraged to conduct clinical research in cutting-edge biopharmaceutical fields such as immune cell, stem cell and gene therapies.

The Suzhou Industrial Park was founded in 1994 as the first intergovernmental cooperation project between China and Singapore. It has witnessed closer cooperation between the two sides and has become a hotbed of innovation and openness.

The notice said China will support the industrial park in expanding digital economy cooperation with Singapore, including pilots on cross-border data flows and business and trade facilitation measures, and in working with Singaporean institutions to jointly build a China-Singapore medical center.

The industrial park also aims to develop into an influential regional center for technology and innovation that is attractive to global talent and has better intellectual property rights protection, and a globally competitive industrial hub with strong biopharmaceutical industries, high-end, intelligent and green equipment manufacturing sectors, and the integration of advanced manufacturing and modern services.