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Jiangsu boasts an advanced manufacturing sector and possesses favorable conditions and capabilities for developing new quality productive forces. Could you please elaborate on the next steps needed to be taken in order to make Jiangsu an important locality for the development of new quality productive forces, considering the local conditions in the province? Thank you.

Xu Kunlin:

Thank you. I'll take this question. General Secretary Xi Jinping said it is important to make Jiangsu a major locality for the development of new quality productive forces. This positioning for the province means both a significant responsibility and a glorious mission for us. We will adhere to the principle of building the new before discarding the old, taking measures in line with local conditions and giving differentiated guidance. We will focus on building an industrial science and technology innovation center with global influence to strengthen the integration between scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.

Firstly, we will focus on basic research. Leveraging our strengths in the concentration of universities, research institutes and talent resources, we aim to achieve groundbreaking originality, starting from ground zero. The provincial government has allocated substantial funds of 2.48 billion yuan this year to support the construction of laboratory systems and drive major basic research projects across Jiangsu. Currently, Jiangsu leads in the establishment of 35 national key laboratories, with efforts underway to exceed 40 this year. This year, we will also establish special zones in applied and basic research, work with universities like Nanjing University and Southeast University to build high-standard research centers in physics, applied mathematics, and synthetic biology and implement 40 major projects in basic research. The goal is to make groundbreaking progress from zero to one.

Secondly, we will focus on industrial upgrading. We will vigorously promote the development of strategic emerging industry clusters, striving to secure a competitive advantage in futuristic fields and sectors. Simultaneously, we will facilitate the intelligent transformation, digitization and networking of manufacturing industries to bolster the strengths of traditional sectors. For example, a traditional casting enterprise in Suzhou has achieved over 90% automation in its intelligent casting demonstration workshop through data-driven decision analysis and intelligent transformation, reducing the product customization cycle from 7 days to half a day. This leads to an increase in the per capita production efficiency by 221% and the establishment of a casting industry park to guide the green transformation of small and medium-sized traditional casting enterprises in the supply chain.

Thirdly, we will reinforce the principal position of enterprises in innovation. Last year, we formulated action plans to enhance technological innovation capabilities of enterprises as well as policy measures to support private enterprises to participate in major scientific and technological innovation. In 2023, we saw the addition of 5,000 new high-tech enterprises, bringing the total to 51,000, as well as 795 "little giant" enterprises with high growth potential, advanced technology and strong market competitive edge to make a cumulative total of 1,474 such enterprises. We are committed to introducing additional policies to accelerate the integration of industry, academia and research that is spearheaded by enterprises. Our goal is to reach a total of 55,000 high-tech enterprises and 100,000 tech SMEs this year. Effective promotion of enterprise innovation is key to boosting total factor productivity and to fostering robust new quality productive forces. Thank you.