China's Shandong seeks high-quality, green growth

Provincial officials of east China's Shandong Province attend a press briefing on Shandong's efforts of pursuing high-quality and green growth amid the modernization drive in Beijing, capital of China, April 10, 2024. China's Shandong Province, one of the country's major economic powerhouses, is pursuing high-quality and green growth amid the modernization drive, provincial officials said Wednesday. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China's Shandong Province, one of the country's major economic powerhouses, is pursuing high-quality and green growth amid the modernization drive, provincial officials said Wednesday.

Zhou Naixiang, governor of Shandong, told a press briefing in Beijing that the province aims to achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of over 5 percent and a per capita disposal income increase of about 5.5 percent this year.

The province will implement a three-year action plan to nurture new quality productive forces, including launching 100 major technological innovation projects, Zhou said.

Shandong will beef up efforts to upgrade its industry and speed up the building of a modern industrial system that includes nine emerging industries and seven future industries, according to the governor.

Zhou pledged more concrete efforts to advance rural revitalization and opening up, and build a top-class business environment.

Shandong will speed up building a world-class seaport cluster to increase its combined annual cargo throughput to more than 2 billion tonnes, the governor said, adding that the province will also invest heavily in clean energy, including wind and nuclear power, amid its efforts to achieve green and low-carbon growth.

Over the past three years, Shandong's GDP expanded by over 6 percent annually on average and its total research and development spending grew over 12 percent annually, according to Zhou.

In the three-year period, its energy consumption per unit of GDP declined 15.8 percent and its average density of PM2.5, a key indicator of air quality, fell 19 percent. Shandong's installed new energy and renewable energy capacity have exceeded 97 GW.

Addressing the press conference, Fan Bo, vice governor of Shandong, said that the province will help local industrial enterprises transition towards digitalization and adopt more environmentally friendly practices. The province will also work to reach the target of reducing the energy consumption per unit of added value of major enterprises by over 4 percent this year, Fan added.

Shandong, which is also an industrial and manufacturing powerhouse province, boasts all 41 major industrial categories. In the first two months of this year, its industrial output grew 9.4 percent year on year, 2.4 percentage points higher than the national level.

In the field of exports, Shandong will optimize measures to support export companies stabilize market expectations, Song Junji, also a vice governor of Shandong, told reporters.

More efforts will be made to help companies expand their presence overseas, increase exports of intermediate and green products in key ASEAN markets, and promote the development of cross-border e-commerce, Song added.