Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

On behalf of the Changzhou Municipal People鈥檚 Government, I would like to extend our best wishes to all of you 鈥� our foreign friends, compatriots from Honking, Macao and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese 鈥� and to your family and friends across the world.

We made great achievements with our hard work in 2015. Despite all the difficulties in 2015, we actively adapted ourselves to the 鈥渘ew normal鈥� and advanced social and economic development of Changzhou, thus achieving new accomplishments. Our GDP in 2015 is likely to hit 530 billion RMB, up by around 9% compared to 2014. Our general government revenues in 2015 reached 46.63 billion RMB with an annual increase of 7.5%. Besides, we utilized 2.487 billion US dollars throughout the year and registered an export volume of 131.9 billion RMB, up by 0.5% in comparison to 2014.

We also pressed ahead with key projects in 2015. We attracted 3 investment projects worth of over 1 billion US dollars each (China Aviation Lithium Battery project, ACC Technologies project, etc.) and 6 investment projects worth of over 500 million US dollars each (Baic Group鈥檚 Changzhou production base, Zonergy鈥檚 East China cloud computing center, Baidu鈥檚 big data industrial park, etc.). Moreover, Baic Group鈥檚 new energy vehicle battery project and Airey Ott鈥檚 general aircraft plant were also established in Changzhou. In addition, the assembly lines of Zotye Auto and Dongfeng Moto in Changzhou became fully operational.

We also expanded our reform and opening-up endeavors in 2015. We successfully readjusted Changzhou鈥檚 administrative districts and therefore further optimized resource distribution across the city. Besides, we upgraded Changzhou Export Processing Zone and Wujin Export Processing Zone into Changzhou Comprehensive Bonded Zone and Wujin Comprehensive Bonded Zone respectively. In terms of tourism, starting from 2015, Changzhou locals can enjoy individual travels to Taiwan. Furthermore, new air routes were opened between Changzhou and other countries and regions like Japan and Taiwan.

The year 2015 also witnessed new improvements in city governance. Changzhou received multiple honors and awards like 鈥淣ational Model City鈥�, 鈥淣ational Famous Historical and Cultural City鈥� and 鈥淣ational Award for Best Living Environment鈥�. Plus, Changzhou was selected to be the only demonstration city in China that creatively integrates tourism with internet. And the Tianmu Lake resort in Changzhou was classified among the first group of national-level tourism resorts.

We could not have made such great achievements without your care, support, participation and contribution. Therefore, I hereby would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you, our foreign friends, compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese.

We just concluded the local people鈥檚 congress and people鈥檚 political consultative conference last week, which specified our development goal for the next 5 years, that is, to build Changzhou into a top notch national smart manufacturing city, a unique industrial innovation center in the Yangtze River Delta region, and a leading demonstration city of city-industry integration. As the old Chinese saying goes, 鈥渢he whole year鈥檚 work depends on a good start in spring鈥�. Therefore, we need to start by now. We have new targets and missions to accomplish. In the year 2016, we will continue to adhere to the concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. We will press ahead with reform and opening-up, meet our citizens鈥� expectations, and materialize our blueprints. We will try our best to build Changzhou into a competitive, affluent, beautiful and civilized city.

We will continue to be open to the whole world and make more friends. We sincerely hope that our friends in Changzhou will continue to pay attention to and support Changzhou鈥檚 development. We warmly welcome more foreign friends, overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to set up businesses and make investments in Changzhou. Let us contribute together to Changzhou鈥檚 development and prosperity.

Last but not least, wish all of you happy New Year and all the best.

鎵竴鎵湪鎵嬫満鎵撳紑褰撳墠椤�