Annual trade in oil products in the Zhejiang FTZ is valued at over 320 billion yuan. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province is striving to become a new hub for opening up to the outside world, according to a statement at a press conference held in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, on Nov 23.

The city's GDP increased from 75.6 billion yuan ($11.5 billion) in 2012 to 137.2 billion yuan in 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 8.4 percent, said Yu Donglai, Party secretary of Zhoushan, at the press conference.

In 2019, per capita GDP in Zhoushan reached 117,000 yuan, 1.65 times the national average and putting it at third place provincewide.

The city has also made significant breakthroughs in industrial transformation, as its eco-friendly petrochemical, ocean engineering equipment, marine electronic information, and shipping service industries are seeing rapid development.

Since 2012, the average annual increase in the added value of the high and new technology industry has been 10.3 percent.

The natural environment and local living standards have also improved significantly. Zhoushan has ranked first in Zhejiang for the past 11 years in terms of natural environment and urban aesthetics.

In 2019, the per capita disposable incomes of urban and rural residents in the city were 61,500 yuan and 36,800 yuan, and the income ratio of urban to rural residents was reduced to 1.67, ranking second in Zhejiang.

Zhoushan has invested 38 billion yuan in the construction of traffic infrastructure over the past four years, including 24 cross-sea bridges spanning 80 kilometers.

In addition, a full oil and gas industrial chain is beginning to form in the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Zhejiang FTZ), which was established in 2017.

The Zhejiang FTZ is currently home to more than 7,200 oil and gas companies, including 43 Global Fortune 500 companies, and the value of annual trade in oil products in the FTZ has exceeded 320 billion yuan.

The Zhejiang FTZ is capable of storing 27.9 million metric tons of oil products, accounting for one fourth of the national capacity, and its annual cross-border renminbi settlements are valued at 96 billion yuan, making up 16 percent of the provincial total.