Changchun New Area, China's 17th national new area, is building a general aviation industrial park and aerospace information industrial park with an investment of more than 100 billion RMB, officials disclosed on Feb. 20 at the 2017 Changchun New Area working conference, China News reported.

Changchun New Area, established in February 2016 on 499 square kilometers of land, is expected to become an important engine for the revitalization of Northeast China. It will also be a platform of Tumen River regional cooperation and development and a mechanism for reform.

Since its establishment, many key programs have been advanced, including the general aviation industrial park and aerospace information industrial park, with respective investments of 101.5 billion RMB ($14.8 billion) and 5.4 billion RMB ($784.8 million).

The general aviation industrial park occupies 25 square kilometers, on which stand three functional zones for aeronautical manufacturing, services and coordination. The park is expected to achieve hundreds of millions of of RMB in output value, according to Kong Yaming, Party committee secretary of Changchun New Area.

In addition, Changchun New Area boasts rich experience in aerospace information industry development. China’s first independently-developed commercial remote sensing satellite was launched there in October 2015, followed by several others.

At present, the capacity of Changchun New Area to contribute to the research and development of satellites has attracted the attention of international peers, including Australia, Saudi Arabia and several countries in Africa; some potential partners have already begun negotiations with China.