Guangxi steers path toward high-quality development

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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Six decades on, the region has not only achieved remarkable economic growth but has also been actively pursuing industrial development and shifting toward high-quality development.

Guangxi, a region used to relying heavily on agriculture, has been continuously optimizing its industrial structure.

Guangxi's industrial structure shift over 60 years./CGTN Photo

In 1958 when Guangxi was first established as an autonomous region, the primary sector accounted for over half of its economy, and the proportion has come down to 14.2 percent in 2017. Meanwhile, the industrial and service sectors' contribution to its growth has been steadily increasing.

At present, agriculture remains the solid foundation of Guangxi's economy. In 2017, the added value of its primary sector reached 290 billion yuan, expanding 228 times from that in 1958.

The major cash crops include sugarcane, peanuts and tobacco, with the region being a major supplier of domestic sugar and silk for many years.

Sugarcane. /VCG Photo

Compared with the development of its agriculture, Guangxi has come a long way in its industrialization.

There were few industries in Guangxi back in 1958. Now, the region owns 10 industries with a scale exceeding 100 billion yuan – food, automobile, metallurgy, petrochemical, machinery, construction materials, electric power, non-ferrous metals, paper and wood processing, and electronics.

The service sector has been playing an increasingly prominent role in Guangxi's economy. A number of new economic models, including the digital economy, sharing economy and e-commerce, are booming in the region, adding new impetus to its growth. In 2017, the added value of Guangxi's tertiary industry exceeded 819 billion yuan, taking up 40.2 percent in its total GDP.

Nowadays, Guangxi has stepped up efforts to promote the upgrading of its traditional industries, driving them to transform from low-end to medium- and high-end production through technological innovation, according to Chen Wu, chairman of the autonomous region.

Chen Wu, deputy party chief and chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region at a press conference on Guangxi's development, in Beijing on November 1, 2018. /Xinhua photo

The region is also vigorously promoting the development of emerging industries, including information technology, intelligent equipment manufacturing, biomedicine, new material and new energy cars, according to Chen.

Besides, local government is also taking efforts to optimize the business environment by streamlining regulation procedures, so as to create better conditions for high-quality development, he said.