A bird's-eye view of Qidong. [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

The GDP of Qidong in Nantong, a city in East China's Jiangsu province, reached 112.38 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) in the first three quarters of this year, a 7 percent increase from the same period last year.

This growth rate is higher the national, provincial, and municipal averages by 1.8, 1.2, and 1.5 percentage points, respectively.

In the first three quarters, agreements for 45 projects with a combined registered capital of over 500 million yuan were signed, with 19 of them worth over 1 billion yuan. There were also 25 new industrial projects with investment of over 500 million yuan each, and nine industrial projects were completed with investments of the same amount.

The leading industries in Qidong have shown signs of recovery and improvement. The three major industries, namely port-related, specialized and strategic emerging industries, achieved taxable sales of 89.16 billion yuan, an 8 percent increase.

Qidong has actively integrated itself into the development of the Yangtze River Delta region and has responded positively to the planning and development of the Yangtze River Estuary Industrial Innovation Collaborative Zone.

The city has also made strong efforts to build industrial parks with Shanghai and Jiangsu province. In the first three quarters, Qidong attracted 43 industrial projects from Shanghai and Southern Jiangsu, each with an investment of over 100 million yuan.