Provincial Governor Yuan Jiajun makes his annual report at the opening ceremony of the second session of the 13th provincial people's congress. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

The major achievements of Ningbo in 2018 and plans for the city's development in 2019 were laid out in the annual work report delivered by Provincial Governor Yuan Jiajun at the opening ceremony of the second session of the 13th provincial people's congress, which opened on Jan 27 in Zhejiang's capital Hangzhou.

Yuan mentioned the city's flourishing port economy by noting that "Ningbo-Zhoushan Port ranked 1st worldwide in cargo throughput for the 10th consecutive year and rose to the world's 3rd in terms of container throughput." 

The fact that the city's GDP hit 1 trillion yuan ($147.8 billion) last year was also highlighted in the report.

In addition, Yuan acknowledged the transportation progress of the city by mentioning the operation of the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou Expressway and proudly said that "Zhejiang became the first province in China to have three airports handling tens of millions of passengers, which are in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou, respectively." 

Among the provincial plans for 2019, many were related with Ningbo, especially the building of the Yongjiang Scientific Innovation Corridor, the construction of the Ningbo Front Bay New Zone and the integration of Ningbo and Zhoushan, which are included in the annual provincial government report for the first time.

The integration of the Ningbo and Zhoushan has been an idea of both governments since last July when a delegation of Party and government leaders from Ningbo visited Zhoushan and the two sides discussed building a community of a shared future. 

"Ningbo and Zhoushan were 'of one family' in history and are 'good neighbors, buddies and brothers' in the present day. We should follow the central government's guideline of promoting the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, to strive and achieve high-quality integrated development," said Zheng Shanjie, Party chief of Ningbo at the discussion on July 19, 2018. 

Zheng also raised six suggestions for the integrated development of the two cities in the areas of infrastructure, reform and opening-up, industry, markets, public services and environmental protection.

The landscape of Ningbo, the second largest city in Zhejiang province [Photo/WeChat account: nbfb0574]