June 8witnessed thecentralized starting of constructionand centralizedcontract signing of major projects in Yichang. 17 projects with a total investment of 7.537 billion yuan settled down in Yichang, and 15 projects with a total investment of 7.01 billion yuan started construction officially. Zhouji, municipal partysecretary, and Zhang Jiasheng, deputysecretary and mayor of Yichang,attended the activity and delivered speeches.

　　Yan Zhi, CEO of ZALL GROUP, Zhang Jinqiao, CEO assistant of Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Group and general manager ofthe Coal Chemical Division, Shen Nanbo, regional general manager of WENS GROUPandother entrepreneursaddressed the event. And many other cityofficials also attended the event.

　　On behalf of the municipal party committee and municipal government, Zhouji expressed his sincere appreciation to the enterprises' strong support forYichang's economic and social development. He said that at the crucial moment of fully implementing the spirits of the "Two Sessions", the entrepreneurs got together in Yichang, which reflectedtheir strong confidence in Yichang's future as well as huge sincerity of working together to seek opportunities in risks and of win-win cooperation. These quality projects are of significance to industrialtransformation and upgrading and high-quality development. They can also lay a solid foundation for revitalizingpeople's livelihood and economic growth after the pandemic. He hopesthat the entrepreneurs can seize the vital window phase to amplify investment in Yichang and truly turn preferential policiesinto development strength. Yichang will speed up its efforts to build a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment to better serve enterprises in Yichang and ensurethatthe projects can be fully implementedandput into production and produce economic returns earlier.

　　Zhang Jiasheng said that Yichang will work to create an upgraded business environment and deepen the reform on streamlining administration, delegating power and improving service. Assistance will be given to enterprises when they are in difficulty and urgent need. Efforts will be madeto help industries improve, strengthen and extend their industry chain through "hardcore" services. The city willmake an offensive move on scientific and technological innovation and accelerate the development of newly emerging industries. With these measures, a better ecological patternof industrial development can be created.

　　Entrepreneurs all agree that Yichang boastslong history，profoundculture andexcellent investment environment. It is a vigorous land with broad developing prospects. They firmly believe that withthe support of themunicipal party committee and municipal government, theconstruction-starting projects andcontract-signing projects will harvest both economic and social profits early. The entrepreneurs said they will deepen the comprehensive cooperation with Yichang and speed up the project construction with the warrior spirits and resolve fighting against COVID-19 to make contributions to ensuring stability in employment, financial operations, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and expectationsand security in job, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy security, stable industrial and supply chains and the normal functioning of primary-level governmentsand a high-quality development ofYichang.

　　Thecontract-signingprojects this time mainly are key industrial chain projects, including the fine chemical engineering project with the investment of 3 billion yuan, the big tourism project with the investment of 200 million yuan, the biomedicine project with the investment of 478 million yuan, the equipment manufacturing project with the investment of 500 million yuan, the new material project with the investment of 530 million yuan,thefood processing manufacturing project with the investment of 1.6 billion yuan,the modern service industry project with the investment of 929 million yuan and the airport economic industry project with the investment of 300 million yuan. The settlement of these projects will havepositive effect on further fostering six pillar industries of biomedicine, advanced equipment manufacturing, food and beverage, fine chemical engineering, electronic information and aerospace.

　　The projects startingconstruction on June 8 cover a wide range of industries, includingair travel, 5G, new energy sources, new materials, tradeandlogistics, Yangtze River Protection and so on. Among them, the project of ZALL Yichang Aviation Community, constructed by ZALL GROUP, enjoys the largest investment volume.Withthis aviation community project and the Three Gorges International Expo Center starting construction at the same time, ZALL GROUP will work to create a national famous aviation tourism complex of R&D, production, exhibition, culture, tourism and leisure.

　　The event of centralized starting of construction and centralized contract signing of major projects is Yichang's big move to fullyimplement the projects. Since the initiative was launched in 2018, investment promotion and project construction citywide havemade remarkable progress, creating a development trendof flourishing contract-signing,construction-starting and operation-starting projects. This year, Yichang will continue to take this event as a carrier to promote high-quality development.

　　The provincialConference on Major Projects, Investment Promotion and Yangtze River Protection has beenheld in Yichang for three years in a row.In addition, Yichang topsthe boardofhigh-quality development assessment across the whole province.