On November 10, the Information Office of Hunan Provincial People's Government held a press conference in the series on Hunan's achievements during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, with a special session by the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province. The press conference introduced that since the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021-2025), Hunan has shown more consumption vitality and stronger driving force for opening up, boosting commerce and open economy to a new stage.

From 2020 to 2024, the province's total retail sales of consumer goods increased from 1.6 trillion CNY to 2.05 trillion CNY, with an average annual growth of 5.9%, which was 0.4 percentage points higher than the national average. The trade-in program has driven cumulative sales of nearly 140 billion CNY, benefiting more than 16 million people. The scale of new business forms such as live-streaming e-commerce and community group buying has exceeded 80 billion CNY. The province's online retail sales have increased 13.5% annually. The Hunan Football League and the Hunan Tourism Development Conference have shown a significant driving effect. The healthy Hunan cuisine is popular across the country and going global.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Hunan has followed the principle of highlighting both industrial opening-up and market expansion. The total import and export volume increased from 487.45 billion CNY in 2020 to 563.66 billion CNY in 2024, with an average annual growth of 3.7%. The exports of high-end equipment and "three new products"—lithium batteries, photovoltaic products, and new energy vehicles—have maintained double-digit growth for four consecutive years. The proportion of exports of self-owned brand commodities has increased by 16.8 percentage points, and the "profit" and "innovation" content of foreign trade have continued to rise. Hunan's foreign trade partners have expanded to 235 countries and regions, and the proportion of imports and exports with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative has reached 52.1%. There were 2,321 Hunan enterprises entering 113 countries and regions. The number of international friendship cities has reached 120, and the average annual growth rate of actual outbound investment reached 12.4%.

By introducing external projects to expand increment and tapping internal potential to optimize stock, the vitality of open entities and investment momentum have been continuously stimulated. Hunan took the lead in issuing 14 items of the positive list for investment attraction across the country, and innovated the "N+1" investment attraction strategy. Through holding investment promotion activities such as Central China Investment and Trade Exposition, Hunan-Greater Bay Area (GBA) Investment and Trade Conference Week, Hunan-Yangtze River Delta Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Week, and Hunan Investment Promotion Week in European Countries, it has vigorously promoted the return of Hunan entrepreneurs and alumni, as well as the revitalization of Hunan through local talents. There were 5,498 new enterprises invested and registered by returned Hunan entrepreneurs, with an accumulated capital inflow of about 2 trillion CNY in the past four years. Major projects of GCL R&D, Jinzhi Optoelectronics, and Tsinghua Unigroup have been implemented successively. A total of 212 Fortune Global 500 enterprises including Germany's BASF and Japan's Aeon have invested in Hunan, and the "Invest in Hunan" brand has been further polished.

The capacity of opening-up platforms continues to improve. In the five years since the establishment of Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone, 109 institutional innovation achievements have been formed. Among them, seven results have been replicated and promoted nationwide, ranking first in central and western China in terms of quantity. Nearly 57,000 new enterprises have been established, contributing nearly 30% of the province's foreign trade and foreign investment. The influence of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo continues to expand, and the China-Africa Changsha Declaration on Upholding Solidarity and Cooperation of the Global South was released during the expo. The Pioneering Zone for In-depth China-Africa Cooperation has been approved for construction. Hunan's trade volume with Africa has an average annual growth rate of 17%, ranking 8th nationwide and topping the central and western regions of China. Hunan strives to build a "national team" for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn