New opportunities
Chen, from the Bank of China institute, said the Belt and Road Initiative has created new room and opportunities for the central region to expand opening-up, which has offered new impetus to the growth of the region.
So far, the State Council has given the green light to four of the six provincial areas in the central region to establish pilot free trade zones as part of broader steps to expand the region's opening-up.
Chery Holding Group, an automaker based in Wuhu, Anhui, has been one of the largest beneficiaries of the enhanced opening-up policy.
The company has been exploring two-way trade, a model through which it exports vehicles overseas before getting other commodities－instead of currency－with equivalent value imported to China, since 2019.
Wang Zhibin, who is in charge of Chery's cross-border e-commerce business, said the group recorded two-way trade volume of about 900 million yuan ($137 million) last year, and the policies of the pilot FTZ could enable the company to build up its two-way trade platform to serve more of the province's exporters and importers and help local manufacturers to expand further.
China's commitment to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and attain carbon neutrality by 2060 is also set to usher in systemic and far-reaching reform, with the central region set to play a key role, some analysts said.
Wu, the economist, said that the progress of using green energy will probably be slower in the central region than in coastal regions because coal energy is cheaper, given the proximity to resources.
"But I can see that there are still opportunities for the use of cleaner, more efficient coal technology as China gains traction in launching a national carbon market," he said.
