Economic overview of Gansu province

Gansu province enjoys a unique geographical location and great infrastructure advantages. It links the eastern and central regions with West China. The New Eurasian Continental Bridge, which connects the Asia-Pacific region and Eurasian countries, goes through the whole province, making Gansu the only province that enjoys such a desirable position in West China.

Gansu has a solid industry foundation and has taken the lead in science and technology among provinces in West China. It is considered a major chemical, energy and raw materials base and a core area for industries in West China, with an industrial structure focusing on petrochemicals, non-ferrous metallurgy, machinery and electronics, construction materials, food, medicine, textiles and light industry.

The province has 33 colleges and universities, more than 1,500 research institutions and a number of national State Key Laboratories. With such strong research and development advantages, the province holds a lead in a variety of fields, including space technology, biological products, electronic information and desertification control.

Gansu's economic development has been promoted to a higher level with further implementation of China's western development program. The construction of public facilities, transportation, communications, energy and water conservancy projects has been accelerated. The ecology and environment has also been improved, and competitive industries with local characteristics are promising.

In the first half of 2013, growth for all main economic indicators in Gansu province was higher than the national average, showing surprisingly steady growth. According to statistics, the province's GDP reached 235 billion yuan ($38.5 billion), a year-on-year growth of 11.3 percent. Its growth rate ranked sixth among 31 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, 3.7 percentage points higher than the national average level.

The success is due to guidelines and policies made by the provincial Party committee and local government departments. The province put forward a "3341" program to build three strategic platforms (for economy, culture and ecology), three infrastructure construction projects (transportation, information and urbanization), and four categories of industry (strategic and emerging industries, competitive industries with local characteristics, diversified industries that enrich the people and location-oriented industries) to ensure that the province's investment in fixed assets reaches 1 trillion yuan by 2016.

In the first half of 2013, the province’s million yuan project completed an investment totaling 171.552 billion yuan, growing 47.7 percent compared to the same period last year. It also listed 200 major projects, 16 projects completed or basically completed , 28 groundbrken, with an total investment of 72.5 billion yuan. In the second half of 2013, the province will continue to adhere to the "3341" project, promote the construction of projects for the year, and enhance the pulling effect on the province's economic growth.