China's Hubei advances high-quality growth through innovation

Visitors select imported products during the 2021 Global Digital Trade Conference and Wuhan (Hankoubei) Commodities Fair in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Oct. 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

WUHAN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hubei Province has advanced its high-quality development with innovation-driven growth over the past decade, according to a press briefing held on Friday.

Over the past 10 years, Hubei's GDP has more than doubled from 2.26 trillion yuan (about 333 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to over 5 trillion yuan in 2021, said Wang Menghui, Party chief of the province.

Industrial enterprises with annual revenues of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations in the province have seen their total output exceed 5 trillion yuan over the past decade, with 15 industries creating revenues of more than 100 billion yuan, Wang noted.

The province has also seen notable improvements in the connectivity of high-speed railways and cargo flight routes.

Wang said that the total volume of Hubei's foreign trade in 2021 was 2.6 times its level 2012, and the number of Fortune 500 companies with investments in the province totaled 324 in 2021, an increase of 219 over the period.

Hubei Governor Wang Zhonglin said that the province, once hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, has effectively coordinated COVID-19 prevention and control with economic development. In the last three years, construction has begun in Hubei on over 13,000 major projects with investments of over 100 million yuan.