Qingdao WCNA eyes stronger marine economy

The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for the Development of the Marine Economy in Qingdao West Coast New Area (Qingdao WCNA) was recently released.

During this period, Qingdao WCNA will work to establish a leading modern marine economic area in Qingdao city, as well as serve as a new growth pole for transforming Shandong into a strong maritime province and China into a strong maritime country, according to the plan.

The plan also states that Qingdao WCNA aims to raise its gross marine product to over 280 billion yuan ($41.83 billion) by 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 15 percent, accounting for more than 42 percent of its gross regional product and more than 40 percent of Qingdao city's gross marine product.

In addition, the plan underscored the importance of developing modern marine industries. The added value of modern marine industries in Qingdao WCNA is expected to exceed 220 billion yuan and account for 80 percent of the area's gross marine product by 2025.

Qingdao WCNA expects to accelerate the pace of building a modern marine industry system by strengthening and fostering industrial chains including ship and marine engineering, marine shipping trade finance, marine chemicals, marine biomedicine, marine cold chains, marine technology services, and coastal tourism.

To achieve the targets, Qingdao WCNA will put more efforts into enhancing the marine science and technology innovation capacity, ensuring the provision of production factors, and deepening opening-up and enhancing cooperation in the sector.

A well-arranged spatial layout and a number of supporting projects will also be in place to serve the development of the marine economy in Qingdao WCNA, according to the plan.