The “experimental field” of the pilot free trade zone is going deeper. In September last year, Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone was officially approved for expansion, including Ningbo sub-zone, Hangzhou sub-zone and Jinyi sub-zone in the matrix. After the expansion, the functional positioning of Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone has expanded from focusing on the construction of the entire oil and gas industry chain to digital economy, advanced manufacturing, international shipping and logistics, and new international trade, forming five functional positioning.

Zhejiang gives full play to its advantages, clarifies its targets and positioning, exerts its efforts in building strategic fulcrums such as consumer market, advanced manufacturing, financial services, digital transformation, etc., and takes effective steps in building strategic hubs, including the “Belt and Road”, the entire oil and gas industry chain, bulk commodity storage and transportation, international business transformation, and modern “four ports” linkage, to strive to explore effective ways to take the lead in building a new development pattern.

At the signing ceremony for major cooperation issues for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the governments of Anhui and Zhejiang signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to jointly build Hangzhou-Huangshan world-class natural ecological and cultural tourism corridor, to open up a larger tourist market in the Yangtze River Delta through the integration of cross-provincial tourism resources.

Zhejiang Seaport Group has signed an agreement with Shanghai Port Group, to jointly develop the north side of Xiaoyangshan. This cooperation will be a key leap for the Yangtze River Delta port group to move towards a world-class port group, and will increase the level of opening up to the outside world in the Yangtze River Delta and the whole country.

Zhejiang has the courage to plan, and actively implement characteristic projects and breakthrough measures, to closely link the provincial development strategy with the “One Belt and One Road” initiative, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, thus making greater contributions to the overall situation of the country.

From the efforts across the province to the exploration across the cities, the “Practices in Zhejiang” of constructing a new development pattern are intertwined.

Last year, Hangzhou Metropolitan Area once again recruited “new member cities”, with Xuancheng, Anhui becoming an observer city of Hangzhou Metropolitan Area Cooperation and Development Coordination Committee. In the future, Hangzhou metropolitan area can move westward along the Wanjiang City Belt, opening up a broader space for cooperation in industrial transfer.

“This is the essence of the construction of a new development pattern in our province, which takes cities as fulcrums to improve the efficiency of factor circulation and expand the scope of factor circulation”, said Zhu Liming, deputy chief economist of the Provincial Development Planning Institute.