With increasing economic strength and a superior business environment, Rugao, a county-level city of Nantong has landed 46 additional high-grade projects. [Photo by Ding Wei/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2020 Rugao Economic Forum, China Longevity Culture Festival and China (Rugao) Art Festival on Flowers, Trees and Bonsai kicked off on Oct 28. Nearly 600 people including overseas guest merchants, experts and scholars from domestic universities and institutes, as well as heads of well-known enterprises and institutions attended the ceremony.

Starting from 2002, Rugao, a county-level city administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province, held the one forum and two festivals biennially to promote its development through economic and cultural activities.

During this year's one forum and two festivals, a total of 46 letters of intent and agreements were signed, with investment valued 39.5 billion yuan ($5.9 billion).

In recent years, Rugao has focused on the development of the real economy and the manufacturing industry, facilitating high-quality economic development.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the average annual growth of gross domestic product in Rugao reached 8.5 percent; the taxable sales of industry and service annually increased by 19.4 percent and 43.8 percent respectively. With the growth rate of key indicators at the forefront of Nantong, Rugao ranked 24th among the top 100 counties (cities) in terms of comprehensive strength in China.

According to Zhang Jianhua, Party secretary of Rugao, the city has devoted a lot of effort in optimizing industrial structures and improving the quality and efficiency of economic development, and has obtained some achievements in industrial park construction, project construction, and scientific and technological innovation.

Since 2019, work has started on 184 projects worth 100 million yuan and above, including 30 with investment of at least one billion yuan. The city has also entered a new stage in scientific innovation, adding two State-level incubators, nine provincial enterprise academician workstations and 41 provincial engineering and technology research centers.

As the national strategies such as Yangtze River Delta integrated development are stably implemented Rugao is facing unprecedented development opportunities. Enterprises from all over the world are invited to invest and take root in the city, Zhang added.