Jinan, the capital of East China's Shandong province, made remarkable achievements in socioeconomic development in 2023 due to its focus on promoting key projects, stabilizing and improving the economy, boosting the construction of a modern industrial system, and expanding opening-up, according to an economic conference held in the city on Jan 2.

The city made great strides in project construction in 2023. The number of projects had increased from 1,301 in early 2022 to 2,363 in 2023. The annual planned investment for 2023 was 312.34 billion yuan ($48.8 billion), and the investment completion rate from January to November was nearly 120 percent.

To stabilize and consolidate the positive momentum for economic growth, Jinan has actively boosted the recovery of the consumer market and promoted the stability of foreign trade. It has successfully built a national cultural trade base and fully completed the pilot program for the innovative development of service trade.

International investment promotion liaison stations in Germany and Japan were established to attract 53 projects from the Fortune Global 500 and China's top 500 manufacturing companies. The development of the private economy was also accelerated.

Jinan also strove to accelerate construction of a modern industrial system. It is currently implementing the strategy of building a strong industrial city with six major industries, including integrated circuits and aerospace information. The scale of the city's four leading industries reached 1.6 trillion yuan.

The city will continue to expand its opening-up and currently has 60 institutional innovation achievements in the Jinan Free Trade Pilot Zone. The number of China-Europe freight trains has exceeded 1,000.