Original Title: Implementation Opinions of the Taizhou Municipal People’s Government on Comprehensively Opening Up a New Chapter in Investment Promotion
People’s Governments of All Counties (Cities, Districts), and All Units Directly Under the Municipal Government:
To seize the historic opportunities presented by industrial transformation, firmly establish the work orientation that “attracting investment is driving development, and planning projects is shaping the future,” reshape the institutional mechanisms for investment promotion, and comprehensively open up a new chapter in investment promotion work, the following opinions are hereby put forward in light of our city’s actual conditions.
I. General Requirements
(1) Guiding Principles.
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and bearing in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping’s historic call to “create new glory for the private economy,” we will thoroughly implement the “No. 1 Opening-up Project” for the upgrading and enhancement of the “Sweet Potato Economy,”we will fully leverage the leading role of investment promotion in economic and social development. Guided by targeted investment promotion and using “dual recruitment and dual attraction” as our key approach, we will focus on attracting and cultivating a group of benchmark enterprises and engine projects aligned with future industrial development trends. This will help build a highly competitive industrial ecosystem and provide industrial momentum and increased investment to support Taizhou’s achievement of the “Three Highs and Three News” modernization goals.
(2) Work Objectives.
From 2023 to 2025, we aim to achieve the following objectives:
1. Qualitative Objectives. Addressing the practical needs of Taizhou’s development as a renowned manufacturing hub and a first-class port-adjacent industrial belt, we will promote the coordinated and integrated development of industrial chains, innovation chains, policy chains, spatial chains, and supply chains. We will attract a cohort of benchmark enterprises and engine projects, as well as talent teams and science and technology innovation platforms possessing internationally advanced technical capabilities. We will establish five high-concentration, high-impact, and influential industrial landmarks—the New Energy City, New Materials City,New Medicine and Health City, Future Automotive City, and Precision Manufacturing City—five industrial landmarks characterized by high concentration, strong driving force, and significant influence—to propel our city’s manufacturing sector toward the mid-to-high end of global industrial and value chains.
2. Quantitative Targets. With the five major hubs of the Lingang Industrial Belt as the core, we will ensure the establishment of a number of industry-leading enterprises and “chain-leading” enterprises through industrial project recruitment. We aim to attract 10 industrial projects with investments of over 10 billion yuan, 10 projects with investments of over 5 billion yuan, 100 projects with investments of over 1 billion yuan, and 10 “enclave” projects within the city.Regarding talent and project recruitment, we will vigorously attract strategic scientists, top-tier scientific and technological leaders, innovation and entrepreneurship teams, young scientific and technological talents, and outstanding engineers. We aim to introduce 20 new academician-led entrepreneurial projects (jointly established research institutes) and 3 provincial-level or higher leading innovation and entrepreneurship teams. In terms of science and technology innovation platform recruitment, we will collaborate and exchange with world-class universities and research institutions to introduce 15 major science and technology innovation platforms and new R&D institutions, thereby building a hub for industrial science and technology innovation.
II. Work Framework
(1) Strengthening Investment Promotion Led by Top Leaders.Implement a leadership-led investment promotion system. The principal leaders of each county (city, district) and Taizhou Bay New Area, as well as the principal leaders of management committees for national- and provincial-level development zones, must steadfastly uphold the “top leader” initiative for investment promotion. They must personally plan major investment promotion activities, personally review major investment proposals, personally attend key investment events, personally meet with important investors, personally oversee key investment projects, and personally coordinate the resolution of major issues.The principal leaders of each county (city, district) and Taizhou Bay New Area must devote more than one-third of their time to investment promotion, while the principal leaders of provincial-level or higher development zones must devote more than half of their time to this effort. They must conduct at least two investment promotion activities per month and attract at least two “Provincial, Municipal, and County Leaders’ Key Projects” annually. Regular reports on the implementation of investment promotion by the city’s “top leaders” will be issued, and annual work reports on investment promotion by the “top leaders” of each county (city, district) and Taizhou Bay New Area will be conducted.
(2) Uphold the principle that industry management must include investment promotion. The Municipal Investment Promotion Center is responsible for coordinating domestic and international investment promotion efforts across the city. It shall collaborate with relevant units to organize sector-specific investment promotion activities, establishing a new framework where “industry management includes investment promotion” and “sector management includes investment promotion.”The Municipal Development and Reform Commission will collaborate on attracting projects from central and state-owned enterprises as well as port-related industries; the Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology will collaborate on attracting projects in the digital economy, advanced manufacturing, and production-oriented services within the manufacturing sector; the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau will collaborate on attracting high-level innovation platforms and science and technology innovation projects; the Municipal Bureau of Commerce will collaborate on attracting projects in the commerce and trade sectors and open platforms; the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will collaborate on attracting modern agriculture and animal husbandry projects;The Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports will coordinate the attraction of projects in the culture, tourism, and sports sectors. The Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, Municipal Construction Bureau, Municipal Transportation Bureau, Municipal Water Resources Bureau, Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Municipal Market Regulation Bureau, Municipal Financial Office, and Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, among other units, shall, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, utilize various resources to support project planning and attraction, and work together to facilitate project advancement.We must effectively strengthen supervision and inspection to continuously optimize the business environment; select and strengthen investment promotion teams, evaluate and select officials on the front lines of investment promotion, and incentivize them to take responsibility and act decisively; conduct comprehensive publicity and promotion of Taizhou to attract investment, fostering a favorable public opinion environment; and leverage resources such as non-public sector entrepreneurs, individuals from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities, as well as new local elites, to guide and support Taizhou natives living abroad in returning to invest and start businesses.
(3) Building a Professional Investment Promotion Team. We must prioritize the training and deployment of professional investment promotion personnel, establish a city-wide talent pool for investment promotion cadres, and formulate the “Taizhou Three-Year Action Plan for Building Industrial Chain Investment Promotion Teams.” Through various methods such as recruitment, lateral transfers, secondments, and hiring, we will increase the number of professional investment promotion personnel by 300 annually.The proportion of officials with at least two years of investment promotion experience within industrial chain investment promotion task forces and overseas investment promotion teams must reach at least one-third, and the proportion of personnel engaged in investment promotion at major industrial platforms must also reach at least one-third. Townships (sub-districts) must establish dedicated investment promotion positions. State-owned enterprises must designate specific departments responsible for investment promotion to serve as the main force in attracting investment.We will explore the establishment of state-owned investment promotion companies. Through flexible mechanisms such as an “employee system” and market-oriented approaches, we will leverage market forces to drive investment promotion, achieving a dual-engine model of government-led and market-driven investment promotion. We will strengthen systematic training for investment promotion personnel by inviting “chain-leading” entrepreneurs, fund experts, and frontline investment promotion specialists to deliver lectures, and by launching a weekly investment promotion lecture series. We will organize an annual investment promotion competition to continuously enhance the professional competence and practical skills of investment promotion cadres.
III. Key Tasks
(1) Focus on Three Major Investment Promotion Directions.
1. Focus on attracting major flagship projects. Strengthen the “head effect” by treating the attraction of major flagship projects as a key strategic measure to drive regional economic development and win regional competition.We will target manufacturing projects valued at 5 billion and 10 billion yuan to achieve major breakthroughs; we will conduct targeted investment promotion campaigns aimed at Fortune 500 companies, China’s Top 500 companies, renowned multinational corporations, leading manufacturing enterprises, “hidden champions,” unicorn companies, and “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” enterprises; and we will focus on specific industrial sectors to achieve leadership through “chain-leading” enterprises.
2. Focus on attracting strategic emerging industries. Target cutting-edge global technologies and make forward-looking strategic deployments in strategic emerging industries; attract future-oriented industrial projects and projects targeting critical segments of future industries that possess core technologies to cultivate new growth drivers. Identify new sectors and continue to attract key industries such as the “Five Cities and Ten Chains” initiative and high-end production-oriented services to promote the clustering of emerging industries.Promote the deep integration of “dual recruitment and dual attraction,” balancing investment promotion with talent attraction, and encourage the simultaneous introduction of R&D institutions and talent teams alongside major industrial projects.
3. Focus on attracting high-quality foreign investment. Broaden channels for attracting foreign investment by appointing renowned consulting firms as “Global Investment Partners” to tap into project information resources from Fortune 500 companies. Enhance platforms for foreign investment aggregation by upgrading international industrial cooperation parks such as the Taizhou Comprehensive Bonded Zone and the Taizhou Sino-German Industrial Park.Vigorously carry out overseas investment promotion, exploring methods such as establishing overseas offices and organizing delegations. Diversify the types of foreign investment, explore pilot programs for the Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (QFLP) scheme, and attract a group of foreign-invested equity investment enterprises with benchmarking effects.
(2) Strengthen the Four Major Investment Promotion Approaches.
1. Strengthen targeted investment promotion along industrial chains. Leveraging Taizhou’s industrial strengths, we will fully implement the “chain leader + anchor enterprise” model. We will establish specialized “industrial chain + regional” investment promotion task forces, with county-level authorities following suit. We will develop industrial investment layout guidelines and conduct in-depth investment promotion efforts based on the “Eight Ones” standard: “one task force, one alliance, one directory, one map, one policy, one fund, one platform, and one event.”Conduct chain-leader-style investment promotion by identifying a group of enterprises with chain-leader characteristics. Innovate the industrial chain partnership model and, guided by the principles of leveraging leading enterprises, following up with upstream and downstream enterprises, supporting through innovation platforms, and fostering industrial cluster development, create a “snowballing” cluster effect. Scientifically assess weaknesses and gaps in industrial chains, target key enterprises and projects to address these vulnerabilities, and aggregate upstream and downstream enterprises within the chain.
2. Strengthen collaborative investment promotion by local enterprises. Encourage local enterprises to expand production and implement the Advanced Manufacturing Doubling Plan, retaining more new investments, newly launched projects, and newly established industries in Taizhou. Treat these as investment promotion projects, granting them the same services and policy benefits as “dual recruitment and dual attraction” initiatives, and include them in the investment promotion performance evaluation.Encourage local listed companies to invest their raised capital in Taizhou, and support mergers and acquisitions as well as joint investments between local enterprises and companies outside the city to strengthen, supplement, and transform industrial chains. Encourage local enterprises to attract leading companies from upstream and downstream sectors; successful placements will result in rewards for the referrers.
3. Strengthen investment fund-driven investment promotion. Adhere to the principle of “promoting attraction through investment,” leveraging the multiplier effect of fiscal funds and the investment-attracting role of industrial funds. Establish specialized industrial funds centered on key industrial chains and explore mechanisms for direct equity investment by the city and counties in projects to boost the attraction of strategic emerging industries and future industry projects. Intensify cooperation with leading large-scale funds and specialized fund management companies, focus on new industries, and attract clusters of similar enterprises to achieve explosive breakthroughs in industrial agglomeration.Strengthen investment banking thinking and vigorously implement equity investments through industrial funds. Use equity investments to incubate enterprises, broaden channels for fiscal revenue, and build local industrial clusters with distinctive characteristics. Enhance policy incentives for fund management companies to attract and cultivate a group of renowned domestic and international venture capital and private equity institutions in Taizhou, introduce more outstanding fund investment management teams, and establish Taizhou as a venture capital and private equity hub.
4. Strengthen market-oriented investment promotion. Encourage collaboration with professional investment promotion agencies and various investment institutions to actively expand sources of project information. All counties (cities, districts) shall introduce reward measures for the referral of major industrial projects, providing subsidies and rewards to institutions that make significant contributions to project attraction, thereby enhancing the market-oriented operation of investment promotion activities.
(III) Optimize the Mechanisms for the Five Major Projects.
1. Optimize the project allocation mechanism. Establish a citywide, interconnected digital investment promotion platform to centrally coordinate investment information gathered by counties (cities, districts), municipal departments, overseas investment promotion teams, and investment agencies, implementing centralized management.The Municipal Investment Promotion Committee will assign tasks to counties (cities, districts) and relevant departments via task assignment forms, further clarifying the timeline for project assignment and feedback to achieve closed-loop management spanning project information submission—assessment and analysis—project assignment—progress tracking—and contract signing and implementation.Establish a direct reporting channel for investment projects led by the top officials of each county (city, district) and the Taizhou Bay New Area, enabling one-stop submission, full-process management, and integrated statistical evaluation of these projects. Hold regular coordination meetings on investment projects at both the municipal and county levels to coordinate and promote the implementation of major projects.
2. Optimize the benefit-sharing mechanism for project transfers. Comprehensively strengthen the reporting of initial negotiations and the coordination of project transfers, encouraging the cross-regional flow of projects that local areas cannot accommodate or that do not align with their industrial positioning. Increase resource support for mountainous counties, providing more support and guarantees for them to attract major and high-quality investments, facilitate project implementation, and strengthen their industrial base.Establish a benefit-sharing mechanism: upon successful project transfer, grant the “originating locality” a specified proportion of benefits for a defined period regarding fixed-asset investment, industrial investment, manufacturing investment, and private-sector investment, as well as metrics such as industrial output value, industrial value-added, and industrial value-added of enterprises above designated size after production commences. For particularly significant “flying land” projects, investment and value-added assessments, as well as tax revenue sharing during the construction phase, may be subject to separate negotiations.In investment promotion performance evaluations, both the “sending region” and the “host region” of major “flying land” projects shall be separately evaluated and awarded points.
3. Optimize the project entry review mechanism. Municipal and county-level authorities shall establish project evaluation teams, leverage the expertise of relevant departments and expert think tanks, and improve the project assessment and review system.For investment projects eligible for “tailored policies,” the project entry criteria system must be refined to ensure internal evaluations, external reviews, and due diligence upon project implementation; projects that fail to meet industrial requirements—such as those with high energy consumption, high emissions, low efficiency, or low output—shall be subject to a “one-vote veto”; clear feedback must be provided for projects of poor quality or with weak corporate capabilities to avoid prolonged indecision.
4. Optimize the standard service mechanism for project implementation. Implement “list-based” management by establishing the “Citywide Key Investment Project Tracking List” and the “Citywide Key Investment Project Signing List.” For projects included in these two lists, promptly establish files and records and prioritize their coordination. Provide “standardized” services by improving the leadership liaison system for major projects. Municipal and county authorities should collaborate to establish a mechanism where each major project is assigned one leader, one dedicated team, and one tailored plan to ensure swift and effective implementation.Promote “one-stop” integration to provide comprehensive services for land, energy consumption, environmental impact assessments, human resources, policy fulfillment, and approvals, thereby creating a full-process service system covering negotiation, signing, implementation, production commencement, and full-capacity operation.
5. Optimize post-investment management mechanisms.Innovate post-investment management for investment projects by establishing a closed-loop management mechanism that integrates project services, contract compliance oversight, and promotion of reinvestment. For “one enterprise, one policy” investment projects, the host locality must not only improve contract compliance monitoring and evaluation—ensuring enterprises commence construction, complete projects, and achieve full production capacity on schedule as stipulated in agreements—but also conduct in-depth analysis and research on the enterprise’s upstream and downstream industrial chains. This will continuously enhance the industrial ecosystem and effectively promote both enterprise reinvestment and ecosystem-based investment attraction.
IV. Supporting Measures
(1) Strengthen Planning Coordination. Establish a mechanism for the coordination of industrial spatial planning. Conduct research on industrial development and spatial models within the master plan for territorial space, strengthen the optimization and integration of industrial spatial layout, achieve the integration of multiple planning frameworks, and prevent the fragmentation of industrial spatial layout at its source.Explore research on industrial chain investment promotion. Based on the city’s overall industrial development spatial plan and the key industrial chains and major industrial projects of each county (city, district) and Taizhou Bay New Area, compile the *Taizhou Key Industrial Investment Layout Guide* to clarify investment promotion priorities and directions. In accordance with industrial layout plans, break down administrative boundaries to promote the rational distribution of projects.Each county (city, district) and Taizhou Bay New Area shall, based on the "Taizhou Key Industry Investment Layout Guide," further refine the guidance catalog for key industries targeted for investment attraction, taking into account local resource endowments and industrial foundations.
(2) Strengthen Policy Support. Focusing on the layout of key industries, the competent authorities of each sector shall issue specialized industrial investment promotion policies for their respective fields. Counties (cities, districts), and major industrial platform zones are encouraged to formulate precise and tailored “one chain, one policy” investment promotion strategies based on regional resource endowments and major investment promotion industrial chains. The “Taizhou Major Industrial Project Investment Promotion Management Measures” shall be formulated to efficiently advance the mutual support between “one chain, one policy” and “one enterprise, one policy.”
(3) Strengthen the Supply of Key Resources. For manufacturing and cultural tourism projects with an investment of 5 billion yuan or more, as well as projects by unicorn companies and national-level “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” enterprises, the municipal government shall provide priority support and coordinate the allocation of land and energy consumption quotas.Increase support through fiscal, financial, and industrial funds, guiding banks, venture capital firms, and insurance companies to participate in various specialized industrial funds and major industrial projects. Encourage banks to provide low-interest, long-term loans for major investment projects, offering financial support throughout the entire process—from project introduction and implementation to construction, operation, and development.
(4) Strengthen Incentives for Investment Promotion. Organize selection programs such as “Outstanding Investment Promoters,” publicly commend and award individuals with outstanding investment promotion achievements, and prioritize the promotion of officials who excel in investment promotion work. Under equal conditions, prioritize recommending investment promotion personnel with outstanding achievements for selection as model workers and advanced individuals at all levels. For non-civil servant and non-public institution positions within investment promotion departments and teams, allow for the implementation of more flexible incentive measures.Investment promotion personnel in state-owned enterprises shall be subject to a market-based compensation system; funds allocated for their rewards shall not be subject to the enterprise’s annual wage cap and shall not be included in the enterprise’s wage base.Improve the error-tolerance mechanism for investment promotion to encourage and support officials in daring to innovate and taking on responsibilities. For work errors or oversights arising from acting in the public interest—without seeking personal gain or benefiting others—due to circumstances such as the absence of explicit legal prohibitions or unclear policy boundaries, accountability shall be mitigated, reduced, or waived in accordance with relevant regulations.
(5) Strengthen Performance Evaluation and Competition. Establish a scientific evaluation indicator system, focusing on the attraction and implementation of major projects, project commencement, and the amount of actual foreign investment utilized. Intensify competitive evaluation, emphasizing the assessment of landmark project attraction. Quarterly rankings and reports will be issued on the actual foreign investment utilized and the performance in implementing major projects for each county (city, district) and the Taizhou Bay New Area.Formulate the “Taizhou City Measures for the Recognition and Review of Investment Projects Exceeding 5 Billion Yuan.” Counties (cities, districts) and the Taizhou Bay New Area that attract one industrial project with an investment of 10 billion yuan (or two projects each with an investment of 5 billion yuan) during the year shall be prioritized for a first-class rating in the comprehensive assessment. Municipal-level units that make outstanding contributions to attracting 10-billion-yuan projects may be upgraded in the comprehensive assessment upon verification.Strengthen supervision and oversight by implementing comprehensive tracking of investment promotion efforts, promptly identifying and correcting issues, and accelerating the implementation and realization of project outcomes.
These guidelines shall take effect on October 1, 2023.
Taizhou Municipal People’s Government
August 30, 2023
(This document is publicly released)
