First, the "three major events" progressed in tandem. Major national strategies and events have brought valuable historical opportunities and powerful potential for Hebei's development. We have strictly followed General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on "accelerating Hebei's development while serving and aligning itself with Beijing and Tianjin," and pooled all resources of the province to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the construction of Xiongan New Area, and the preparatory work for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. The first focus is to relieve Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the capital and contribute to fostering the third growth pole of China's economy. We have been fulfilling the designated functions of Hebei, namely the "three zones and one base." Under this plan, Hebei will become an important national base for modern trade and logistics, a pilot zone for industrial transformation and upgrading, a demonstration zone for modern urbanization and the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, and an ecological buffer zone. Breakthroughs have been achieved in the three main areas of industrial relocation, ecological conservation, and integrated transport services. An integrated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region via railways has taken shape. A large number of enterprises and projects have moved to Hebei, including 25,919 legal entities relocated from Beijing or Tianjin to the province, as well as 1,248 projects, each worth more than 50 million yuan ($7.76 million), which totaled 1.18 trillion yuan in investment. The coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shows a broad range of prospects.

The second focus is to construct a demonstration zone for innovative development that implements the new development philosophy, striving to build a reputation for "Xiongan Quality." We have already formulated a high-standard framework for Xiongan New Area. The establishment of the new area has progressed from planning to simultaneous advances in promoting construction and accommodating Beijing's nonessential functions. More than 200,000 builders are currently working around the clock at busy construction sites with tower cranes. The Rongdong area of Xiongan New Area has been basically completed and the construction of the start-up area is being stepped up. More than 26,667 hectares of forest have been planted. The water quality of Baiyangdian Lake had been improved from Grade V in 2017 to Grade IV in 2020, with some parts reaching Grade III. An eco-friendly city with a lush landscape of grass, trees and water is being built. The trunk transport network around the periphery of the new area has opened to traffic, and the Beijing-Xiongan intercity railway started operation at the end of last year. The third focus is to make the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games a fabulous, unique and outstanding event and foster a new development pattern integrating the "two new driving forces." We have fully implemented the four concepts of hosting the games — green, sharing, open and honest — as well as the principles of making it "simple, safe and splendid." All 76 projects for the Winter Olympics in the Zhangjiakou competition zone were completed ahead of schedule, and testing activities have been successfully held. More than 21 million people in Hebei have participated in ice-snow sports. We have stepped up our efforts to build Zhangjiakou into the capital's water source conservation zone and an ecological buffer zone, and will take the opportunity of co-hosting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to make new progress in promoting the high-quality development of Zhangbei county in Zhangjiakou.

Second, we have sped up the efforts to reduce capacity, restructure, and promote industrial transformation and upgrading. New development ideas led to high-quality development and new achievements. We thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions to quickly replace old drivers of growth with new ones through reforms, innovation, opening-up, and cooperation, and to firmly reduce capacity, proactively adjust the structure, and expedite the industrial transformation. We implemented these instructions with great efforts and firm resolve. Firstly, we insisted on dealing with overcapacity with unparalleled efforts and stood the stern test of restructuring. We focused on the six industries of steel, coal, cement, plate glass, coke, and thermal power, and surpassed the capacity reduction tasks for the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The number of steelmakers reduced from 107 to 68 as the steelmaking capacity lowered from 320 million tons at peak to within 200 million tons. We basically realized the goal for steelmakers to move out of urban areas and made flexible arrangements for 150,700 employees. The personnel placement rate reached 100%. Secondly, we insisted on building a modern industrial system with the support of the real economy that incorporates advanced manufacturing. We gained outstanding results in the optimization of the industrial structure. We carried out a massive campaign to transform enterprises above designated size. We focused on fostering 12 leading industries at provincial level and 107 characteristic industries at county level. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, new and high-tech industries saw an added annual value of 11.2% and the digital economy accounted for more than 30% of the GDP. The number of new and high-tech enterprises in the province reached 9,400. The number of medium- and small-sized tech companies reached 87,000. Last year, after fully completed the task of reducing taxes and fees for enterprises, the private sector saw a 4.4% year-on-year growth in added value and a 4.1% growth in taxes paid. Enterprises have improved significantly in terms of market competitiveness. The industrial structure has shifted: in the past, the secondary industry took up the largest part of the total GDP, followed by the tertiary and primary industries, but in 2020, the tertiary industry surpassed the secondary industry to rank first. The service industry's contribution to the total GDP reached 73.8%. Thirdly, we insisted on gaining new advantages in competition and cooperation by deepening reform and opening-up. We comprehensively improved the legal environment and the business environment. We thoroughly implemented reforms in nine key areas and the clean-up and regulation of six key areas. We proactively integrated into the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. The HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel has become a model of international capacity cooperation and the China International Digital Economic Expo was a success. We have sped up the development of the China (Hebei) Pilot Free Trade Zone. A livelier Hebei has become an investment destination for domestic and foreign enterprises. 

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