Chongqing and Sichuan strengthen collaboration

Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing and Tianfu New Area in Chengdu, Sichuan province, are joining forces to propel the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle forward.

As of 2024, both regions had achieved a GDP exceeding 500 billion yuan ($69.92 billion), marking a significant economic milestone. Flagship alliances in key industries, including automotive manufacturing and electronic information, have attracted over 90 leading enterprises and nearly 1,000 member companies, creating a complementary industrial ecosystem.

As Chongqing's primary hub for smart connected new energy vehicles, Liangjiang is spearheading the transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry through innovation and industry clustering. This collaboration aims to establish a world-class new energy vehicle industrial cluster in Sichuan and Chongqing.

Changan Automobile, a leading company in this sector, exemplifies this collaboration. Its mainstream models incorporate components from 50 suppliers based in Sichuan, supporting 683 partners and creating 12,000 jobs across the region.

In 2024, the two areas established a "new corridor" by linking Chengdu's Science and Innovation Eco-Island with Chongqing's Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone. This connection facilitates the sharing of technological innovation resources.

Chongqing and Sichuan are collaborating to promote high-level openness and accelerate the development of major international trade corridors, creating an inland open gateway.

In Chengdu, a scheduled intermodal transport service carrying 167 cars traveled via the Chengdu-Chongqing Expressway to Liangjiang's Guoyuan Port, then by water to Taicang Port in Jiangsu province, and finally exporting overseas from Shanghai.

This intermodal service reduces the time it takes for goods from Chengdu to reach Shanghai by approximately 40 percent, resulting in a 10 percent reduction in business costs. In the first half of this year, the Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone achieved 727 shipments through the dual-port linkage service, while Meishan Dry Port dispatched 1,282 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

At Guoyuan Port in Liangjiang, the integration of the Yangtze River Waterway, China-Europe freight trains, and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor connects Sichuan and Chongqing.

Liangjiang is also advancing collaborative credit supervision, streamlining rights protection channels. By adopting the principle of "remote acceptance, local processing, and mutual recognition of results", a "green channel" for handling consumer disputes has been established, resolving seven cross-regional consumer disputes this year.