A symposium to review the economic situation of NETDA during the first quarter of 2013 was held on April 19 in the development area in Nantong, Jiangsu province.

The economy grew steadily and made sound achievements in upgrading and attracting investments during the first quarter. Gross product value reached 9.5 billion yuan ($1.54 billion), an increase of 12 percent over the previous year. Fixed-assets investments grew to 7.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.4 percent. Government revenue witnessed the highest year-on-year growth, measuring 20.7 percent. Total export value rose by 9.8 percent. Utilized foreign capital saw a year-on-year increase of 11.8 percent.

The current economic situation focuses on "Three Structures",namely, industrial structure, project structure and tax fund structure. Qu Baoxian, secretary of the Party working committee of NETDA, stressed that in order to boost development and maintain stability in the economy in the development area, NETDA should focus on fostering new development engines.

All companies in the development area should attract more investments and stay profit-oriented; implement contracted projects as soon as possible; make large bases and projects a major goal of industrial transformation and upgrade; open up more agencies in Shanghai, Guangdong, and Suzhou to seek business opportunities as well as investments; and maintain the utilization of both domestic and foreign capital and the development of both second and tertiary industries.

Meanwhile, NETDA should accelerate the construction of featured parks, overcome geographical limitations and explore a new pattern of development. Innovation should also be given significant attention.

Furthermore, NETDA should hire high-quality professionals and high-tech talents to enhance soft power. It should promote the development of the modern services industry while maintaining high-speed growth in leading industries.