Hunan Province has added 1,040 new overseas enterprises over the past decade, with actual investment amounting to 12.6 billion USD. Its total investment was the highest among the central regions of China, according to a white paper released by the relevant authorities on December 25, 2023.

Guo Ning, deputy director of the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province, said that in the past ten years, Hunan has strived to foster a new environment in all-round opening up, focusing on integrating into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The province has established economic and trade exchanges with 231 countries and regions, realizing the full coverage of BRI countries.

Hunan has established the "Hunan Enterprises Going Global" Comprehensive Service Platform, and has built China's first comprehensive public welfare platform specializing in serving the international operation of enterprises – the Enterprise Hunan Network. Meanwhile, it has continued to optimize foreign-related tax services. Generally, the average processing time for export tax refunds has been shortened to less than 3 working days.

Hunan has steadily promoted the internationalization of RMB. Between January and September this year, Hunan's current account and direct investment RMB settlement accounted for 28.1% of the cross-border local and foreign currency receipts and payments. The amount of cross-border RMB settlement with BRI countries increased by 95% year on year. Hunan has actively pushed forward the construction of China-Africa Cross-border RMB Center, opening the business of spot foreign exchange settlement and sale for the public in six African countries such as South Africa and Nigeria. The province has completed China's first cross-border remittance and settlement of Kenyan shillings.

Over the past decade, a number of Hunan-made projects have made remarkable progress along the "Belt and Road" route. The "one railway and two industrial parks" project in Laos and the contract farming cooperation project in Tanzania have been included in the List of Practical Cooperation Deliverables of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. An array of landmark projects, including the Senegalese National Wrestling Arena and Uganda's Karuma Hydropower Station, have secured Hunan's reputation as a powerhouse in construction projects for roads and bridges, hydropower, and engineering.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: Chinanews