On July 3, a conference was held in Chongqing, a city in southwest China and a sci-tech innovation center in western China, to leverage finance to better bolster its high-quality development.
Multiple thematic activities kicked off during the event, including sessions on investment promotion, project contract signings, panel discussions, investment and financing for industrial chains, commercialization of sci-tech achievements, regional recommendations, project roadshows, etc.
Four lists of local fund-demanding programs were also released to the public to pump financing into Chongqing's industries, sci-tech sector, infrastructure field and municipal state-owned enterprises.
Prior to the conference, Chongqing had promoted financial institutions to establish connections with owners of 549 programs on the four lists, with total financing demand amounting to approximately 419.4 billion yuan, noted Zhou Hehua, deputy director of the Office of Financial Committee of CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee.
Precisely matching industrial financing needs with corresponding financial resources stood as the core of the conference designed to function as an efficient platform to enhance innovation, element aggregation and value co-creation, added Zhou.
By the end of March, Chongqing's balances of mid- and long-term lending for manufacturing industry and loans to sci-tech sector rose 13.9 percent and 13.1 percent year on year respectively.
Meanwhile, other 100-plus innovative lending products tailored for local sci-tech businesses channeled effectively liquidity into Chongqing's real economy, including ones that fund development of intellectual properties, R&D, and pilot scale testing.
During the conference, 56 key projects completed the signing of financing agreements involving a total of 154.9 billion yuan.
The conference revealed the diversity of financial supplies, a strong alignment between interested industries of financial institutions and local sectors demanding funding, and a balanced project structure that features industry-leading projects taking the lead, unicorn programs playing a vital role, and sci-tech outcome transformation projects poised for potential breakthroughs.
In the future, Chongqing will promote the establishment of a municipal-level sci-tech fund of funds to draw more social capital for sci-tech businesses that are usually asset-light, investment-intensive, risky and vibrant in scale growth.
Experts in attendance generally believed that Chongqing has a vast potential to craft itself into a sci-tech innovation center, an advanced manufacturing center and a financial center in western China.
(Edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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