Nanning, August 20 (Xinhua) -- As a frontier and window for China's opening-up and cooperation with ASEAN, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is accelerating the construction of the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone to build cross-border and cross-regional industrial chains and supply chains. According to information provided by local officials on the 20th, the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone has 1,221 projects under construction, with investment of 70.1 billion yuan (RMB, same below) completed in the first seven months of this year.

　　Guangxi officials held an on-site promotion meeting for the construction of industrial parks across the region in Nanning that day. From January to July this year, the operation of Guangxi's parks continued to improve, with major indicators achieving relatively rapid growth. The total output value of industrial enterprises above designated size and industrial investment in the region's industrial parks reached 1.21 trillion yuan and 145.5 billion yuan, respectively, up 10% and 6% year on year.

　　Guangxi is a province-level region in China that is adjacent to ASEAN by both land and sea, and is an important gateway for the organic connection of the Belt and Road Initiative. The China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone includes seven areas, including Nanning, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou and Yulin. It has obvious location advantages as a land-sea corridor, and multiple areas have achieved seamless transport connectivity with ASEAN countries.

　　According to reports, the China-ASEAN Digital Economy Industrial Park, with a total investment of about 5.8 billion yuan, has signed up 60 enterprises to move in; the Guangxi Fangchenggang Offshore Wind Power Demonstration Project, with a total investment of about 24.5 billion yuan, has generated more than 160 million kWh of electricity in cumulative power generation; Digital Guangxi Group, relying on the Pingxiang Border Industrial Park and its distance advantage within a "two-hour economic circle" with Vietnam, is exploring the China-ASEAN electronic products supply chain comprehensive service platform project to create a convenient export channel for Chinese electronic products.

　　Nanning Mayor Hou Gang said that Nanning is accelerating the construction of projects such as the International Science and Technology Industrial City, accelerating the construction of the China-ASEAN Cross-Border Industrial Integration Development Cooperation Zone, and that substantive progress has been made in the construction of the Nanning (Shenzhen) ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone. At present, Nanning's emerging industries are continuously clustering. With BYD as the leader, the entire battery industry chain, including cathode and anode materials, aluminum and copper foil, and cell manufacturing, is beginning to take shape, and Nanning has become an important cluster area for China's new energy industry.

　　Qian Zhigang, president of Shanghai Huayi Holding Group Co., Ltd., said that Guangxi has good advantages in location, policy and resources, and Huayi Group chose to build an integrated chemical new materials base in Qinzhou, Guangxi, in 2017. The project has a planned total investment of more than 90 billion yuan and covers four major industrial chains: coal chemicals, light hydrocarbon cracking, salt chemicals, and downstream petrochemicals. At present, the first and second phases of the project have been successfully put into operation, forming a strong industrial cluster effect. It is expected that after the project is fully completed and put into operation, its output value will exceed 100 billion yuan.