China News Service, Shenzhen, November 14 (Reporter Liu Wenwen) Taylor Ogan, the founder and CEO of Snow Bull Capital, made a bold decision a few years ago: to move the company from Boston to Shenzhen. When talking about the reason, he said that it is difficult to find a place like Shenzhen where innovation and vitality are surging everywhere. "Shenzhen has very successful technology companies and a complete supply chain. Almost all parts can be purchased within an hour's drive. This is amazing!"
This American entrepreneur traveled across the ocean, reflecting Shenzhen's attraction to global innovation resources from one aspect, and also provided a vivid footnote for the upcoming APEC Shenzhen meeting. From November 18th to 19th, the 33rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Informal Meeting will be held in Shenzhen. When China's special economic zones meet APEC, a city's opening trajectory for more than 40 years deeply echoes the concept of "open regionalism."
Economic and trade data provide confirmation. In the first half of this year, Shenzhen's imports and exports to other APEC economies reached 1.98 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 33%, accounting for nearly 70% of the city's total foreign trade value. Cai Wei, president of KPMG China Economic Research Institute, told a reporter from China News Service that this shows that the Asia-Pacific market is of great significance to Shenzhen's economic development, and also reflects that regional economic cooperation has a solid realistic foundation.
"Shenzhen is an 'important window' for China's reform and opening up, and its opening up practices can provide multi-dimensional reference for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region." Wei Qijia, director and researcher of the Industrial Economics Research Office of the Economic Forecast Department of the National Information Center, pointed out in an interview that Shenzhen plays a unique role whether it is improving industrial capabilities or integrating into the regional value chain.
Wei Qijia analyzed that, first of all, Shenzhen’s opening up practice provides the Asia-Pacific region with a reference for “system-based openness to connect with global rules.” Shenzhen started from the early days of "three come and one supplement" ("processing with supplied materials", "processing with supplied samples", "assembly with supplied parts" and "compensation trade"), and gradually promoted market-oriented reforms and aligned with international high-standard economic and trade rules, such as taking the lead in implementing a negative list for foreign investment access, customs clearance facilitation reforms, etc., achieving a leap from "undertaking industrial transfer" to "participating in the division of labor in the global industrial chain".
Secondly, this city, which started out as a processing and manufacturing city, has spent decades building an innovation ecosystem of "basic research + technological research + industrialization of results + technology finance + talent support", and has cultivated world-class industrial clusters such as electronic information and new energy. Wei Qijia pointed out that Shenzhen's development model of "innovation-driven + industrial collaboration" provides a sample for the Asia-Pacific industrial chain to extend to high-end.
Shenzhen’s open development experience accumulated over more than 40 years is accelerating to be transformed into pragmatic measures to connect and serve the Asia-Pacific. For example, Cai Wei said that Shenzhen has many application practices in the fields of artificial intelligence, industrial Internet and smart manufacturing, and can give full play to the advantages of digital technology to help Asia-Pacific small and medium-sized enterprises improve efficiency. Shenzhen has begun exploring this. The Asia-Pacific Small and Medium Enterprises Cooperation Zone, located in Luohu District, Shenzhen, is continuing to operate as a platform for regular cooperation intentions, building a bridge for Asia-Pacific small and medium-sized enterprises to work together for win-win results.
From a small fishing village to an innovative city with a GDP exceeding 3.87 trillion yuan, Shenzhen tells a vivid story of China's opening up and development. Cai Wei said that the significance of hosting APEC in Shenzhen is not only to showcase the development achievements of a city, but also to let the world see the extensive cooperation space among Asia-Pacific economies through this "window".
