A dialogue between Chengdu, Xi'an on opening inland cities (6)

C: Chengdu also focuses on key industries including advanced manufacturing and high-end service, stressing more on their being advanced in terms of industry, technology and management. It combines hard standards as investment intensity, output level and environmental needs with "soft standards" as industry prospects and brand image. Investment on flagship enterprises and on industrial-chain scale is welcomed to promote key industrial clusters.

X: The industrial structure of foreign investment in Xi'an has become more reasonable. There used to be many barriers for investments in the service industry, and mostly they went to labor intensive industries in the secondary industry, but in recent years, with eased restrictions, service has become a new growth point in attracting foreign capital, which mostly went to finance, telecommunications, logistics, as well as accounting, law and service outsourcing.

C: Following a path of being "highly efficient and intensive", Chengdu has mapped out 21 industrial zones, each focusing on a key industry. A new pattern of city growth has been shaped, with the downtown focusing on high-end service, near suburban on advanced manufacturing and corresponding production service, and far suburban on advanced manufacturing, modern agriculture and tourism. Any settlement of project not in line with each zone's target industry will be halted.

X: Xi'an is remapping its industrial layout, trying to cut our locations for each industry.

C: Various districts and counties used to compete for the same project, which led to redundant construction and hurt sustainability and environment. In 2007, Chengdu set up its investment promotion commission, which was a streamlined combination of past bureaus on business invitation, economic cooperation, foreign trade and commerce. It coordinates, organizes, serves and advises to put business invitation under unified leadership to ensure sound competition and common development.

X: In future, competition lies between city groups or belts rather than between individual enterprises or cities. We must conduct research on how western areas build their new city groups and shape their competitive edges and thus become new points of growth. It is out of such considerations that the economic zones of Chengyu and Guantian were established. Xi'an also signed framework agreement on strategic cooperation with neighboring cities as Xining, Lanzhou, Yinchuan and Tianshui to increase interaction and promote rational flow of productive elements between regions.

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