According to Li Zhanshu, governor of Heilongjiang, the province has in recent years established stable cooperative relationships with many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in agriculture, food, energy resources, chemical and power plant equipment.
Last year, the trade volume between Heilongjiang and Latin American countries reached $350 million, while the amount jumped to $550 million during the first eight months of this year, which saw a 169 percent increase above that of the corresponding period of last year, Li said.
Heilongjiang's rejuvenation of the old industrial bases in its northeastern areas has revitalized the province, which has substantially improved its economy, said Sun Yao, deputy governor of Heilongjiang.
The province has maintained double-digit economic growth since 2002. The province's economy has greatly improved due to several mega-projects. The construction of these projects also offers huge opportunities for cooperation with overseas investors.
One of the projects is the Harbin-Daqing-Qiqihar industrial corridor, which traverses three major cities in the province.
It epitomizes the province's hopes of revitalizing itself by developing its vast saline-alkali land for industrial use.
It is intended to set up equipment manufacture, food, petrochemical, and medicine industries. The province has promised preferential policies to attract investors by offering cheap land use and tax reduction.
Another major project is a move to build a coal and electricity power base in the eastern part of the province.
Meanwhile, with its geological advantage of sharing more than 3,000 km of border with Russia, the province boasts huge potential in its trading relations with Russia.
Heilongjiang's raw materials, food processing and export are the backbone of its trade with Russia.
The province is also busy expanding tourism with Russia.
Heilongjiang has unique advantages. As one of the most important commodity bases in China, Heilongjiang province is also leading the way in modern agriculture, in China. It ranks first in terms of agricultural mechanization, standardization and plantation acreage of green food.
Its labor productivity has reached the standard of medium-level developed countries.
The province's grain output reached nearly 40 million tons last year, of which 60 percent was for sale. By 2015, its grain output is expected to reach 50 million tons.
"A rough estimate is that the amount of grain annually will be enough to feed the whole country for a month," Sun said.
As an agricultural giant, the province is not lagging behind in its industrial development.
It was one of the most important industrial bases in the country's earliest days. It contributed about half of the nation's crude oil and freight trains, a third of its power station equipment, one seventh of lumber and one tenth of coal.
So far, the province has developed six backbone industries - energy, equipment manufacturing, petrochemical, food, medicine and forest industries.
"We are striving to build a state-of-the-art modern equipment and manufacturing base and an important equipment manufacturing zone by 2010," Sun said.
One of the province's ambitions is to set up the country's largest power equipment manufacturing base.
However, despite its huge ambition in agriculture and industrial development, the province also attaches great importance to ecological protection, Sun said.
"Many places in the province still have a primitive environment," he said.
"We warmly welcome Latin American countries to take part in the campaign of revitalizing the old industrial bases in China's northeast and hope Latin American countries' investment and trading can be effectively combined with China's regional development strategy," he said.
Source: China Daily
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