Chongzuo, located in the border area of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, celebrated the 20th anniversary of its establishment on Aug 6.

Local officials announced that Chongzuo will leverage its advantageous location as a border city to develop an industrial cooperation zone targeting the ASEAN market. It is also striving to be a modern gateway city for cooperation with ASEAN countries.

Since its establishment in August 2003, Chongzuo has witnessed significant economic growth. Its GDP has increased from 10.4 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in 2003 to 108.1 billion yuan in 2022, a growth of 3.4 times.

The city has ranked first in Guangxi for 14 consecutive years in terms of total import and export volume, and has been listed as one of China's top 100 foreign trade cities for eight consecutive years, becoming the largest border trade city in China.

As an important city along the Belt and Road Initiative and a key gateway city for the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, Chongzuo has established several national-level opening-up platforms, including the Chongzuo area of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Pingxiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and the Pingxiang Key Development and Opening-up Experimental Zone.

The city is known for having the most abundant manganese product line in the world, and it leads in the domestic sugar production technology and equipment sector.

In the first half of this year, the city attracted 93 newly signed investment projects with a total investment of 39 billion yuan, and realized an actual investment of 26.66 billion yuan.