The country approved three new free trade parks in Tianjin, and Guangdong and Fujian provinces in December. The parks are similar to the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone inaugurated in September 2013.

The Tianjin free trade area, which will be inaugurated in the first half of this year, will contribute to the coordinated development of the Jingjinji region, according to Tianjin officials.

The Jingjinji region's total gross domestic product accounted for about 10 percent of the country's total last year. It is dubbed the third new growth pole of China after the Pearl River Delta in southern Guangdong province and the Yangtze River Delta region in the east.

The region is striving to be a new growth pole relying on innovation, industrial upgrading and restructuring in line with the country's drive to enhance growth quality and achieve balanced development.

As evident in the shroud of thick smog in Beijing over the weekend, the city failed to meet a key pollution reduction target last year with annual average density of PM2.5 down only four percent, less than the five percent target.

To reduce pollution, Beijing closed 392 companies including furniture and machinery factories, foundries and other polluters. The city also removed 470,000 old vehicles from the roads and strengthened environmental law enforcement.

Environmental protection authorities in Beijing uncovered nearly 3,000 law violation cases and issued fines totalling 100 million yuan ($1.6 million), three times more than the amount of the previous year.

The PM2.5 index fell 12 percent in Hebei and 13.5 percent in Tianjin last year.

Beijing vows to reduce the PM2.5 density by five percent. Hebei plans a a target of more than four percent in 2015.

Beijing submitted its official 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid in early January. The bid is an opportunity and drive to push forward the balanced development of Beijing and its neighbors, said Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun.

The top-level design for the coordinated development strategy of Beijing and its neighbors is predicted to be released soon. More progress is to be made after the guideline comes out.