The 22nd plenary meeting of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Economic Coordination Committee was held on Nov 30 in Lishui city, located in East China's Zhejiang province.

Representatives from 41 cities in the delta region discussed ways to boost cooperation and integration for high-quality development.

The Yangtze River Delta – which covers Shanghai and the eastern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui – is one of China's most economically active and open regions. It accounts for about one-fourth of the country’s GDP and one-third of its foreign trade and investment.

At the meeting, the first Yangtze River Delta Business Entity Development Index was released. It showed that the index score rose from a baseline of 100 points in 2018 to 155.88 points in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 11.74 percent.

The index is calibrated to reflect the vitality, innovation and competitiveness of the business entities in the region.

A white paper on the digital empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs in the Yangtze River Delta was also issued at the meeting.

It aims to help build a one-stop digital product and service system that creates transition models for representative industries and their various commercial scenarios.

The white paper provides guidance and solutions for SMEs to leverage digital technologies and platforms to improve their efficiency and resilience.

In addition, the 41 member cities agreed to jointly support the revitalization and development of the red sites of the Chinese revolution. These are historical places where the Communist Party of China and its predecessors led revolutionary activities.

The member cities will encourage and assist enterprises to invest and start businesses in the revolutionary areas. What's more, they will promote the sharing of public service facilities and high-quality public services between the key cities in the revolutionary areas and the Yangtze River Delta region.