The first session of the 16th Nantong Municipal People's Congress commenced in Nantong on Feb 24. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

The first session of the 16th Nantong Municipal People's Congress commenced in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, on Feb 24.

Deputies listened as Wu Xinming, acting mayor of Nantong, delivered the municipal government's annual work report that highlighted the city's achievements over the past five years and its targets for the next five years.

According to the report, Nantong's GDP exceeded 1 trillion ($158.22 billion) in 2020.

The per capita disposable income of residents in Nantong reached 46,882 yuan in 2021 with average annual increase rate of 9.3 percent. The city created 546,000 jobs and its urbanization rate increased by 5.9 percentage points over the past five years.

Wu also noted Nantong's achievements in 2021, the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, saying that the GDP grew 8.9 percent year-on-year to 1.1 trillion yuan while foreign trade surged 29.7 percent yearly to 340.58 billion yuan.

The per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in Nantong reached 57,289 yuan and 29,134 yuan respectively, year-on-year increases of 9.2 percent and 11.4 percent.

Over the next five years, the proportion of Nantong's GDP to the provincial figure is expected to exceed 10 percent and the per capita disposable income of local residents would reach 65,000 yuan.

In addition, local residents would enjoy better living and natural environments.