The fourth plenary session of the 11th CPC Zhanjiang Municipal Committee is held at the Zhanjiang International Convention Center on Jan 8. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The fourth plenary session of the 11th CPC Zhanjiang Municipal Committee was held at the Zhanjiang International Convention Center on Jan 8 to summarize the city's achievements over the past year and also to lay out the blueprint of development for the next.

The meeting debriefed the work report made by Party secretary Zheng Renhao on behalf of the Standing Committee of the CPC Zhanjiang Municipal Committee, as well as a keynote speech on economic work by Mayor Jiang Jianjun. The Implementation Plan of Zhanjiang Countryside Revitalization Strategy (2018-2020) was also approved during the meeting.

Over the past year, Zhanjiang has made great strides in promoting infrastructure construction, deepening supply-side structural reform and implementing the national strategy of innovation-driven development. The city's gross regional product was amounted to 285 billion yuan ($43.8 billion) in 2017, up 7.7 percent from the previous year.

Starting from a new vantage point, Zhanjiang set forth the overall requirements and major tasks for the year of 2018 at the meeting. Apart from answering the national call to build an all rounded prosperous society, it will also strive to establish itself as a core city within the Beibu Gulf and as a sub-center city of Guangdong province.

Specifically, the gross regional product of Zhanjiang is expected to grow by 7.5 percent in 2018, as the added value of industries above designated size and fixed-asset investment will increase by 9 and 10 percent respectively. The total export-import volume is projected to witness a jump of 7 percent.

To realize these goals, Zhanjiang will accelerate the pace of setting up a stereoscopic and fast-moving transportation network with the construction of the Zhanjiang International Airport, highways as well as the opening of more high-speed rail lines and shipping lanes.

The city is home to multiple iron and steel, petrochemical and papermaking behemoths. It will seek to further extend its edge by pushing forward the construction of supportive industrial parks. With priority given to innovation, it is estimated that number of high-tech enterprises in Zhanjiang will exceed 160 by 2018.

In addition to pressing ahead with urban modernization, Zhanjiang will also take steps to revitalize the countryside by unleashing its idle resources, promoting the integration between primary, secondary and tertiary industries as well as creating a livable environment in the rural areas.

In pursuit of a more external outlook, Zhanjiang will ramp up its exchanges and cooperation with the neighboring Pearl River Delta and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and regions as far as Europe, America and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).