A delegation of reporters visits a pharmaceutical company in Changting Industrial Park of Medical Facilities. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The five cities in southwestern Fujian province - Xiamen, Longyan, Sanming, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou - are strengthening industrial cooperation after the provincial government launched an initiative last year to promote the coordinated growth of southwestern Fujian.

A delegation of reporters was created to investigate the initiative's progress and observe how the five cities are conducting coordinated growth.

The delegation spent 10 days touring the five cities, visiting local industrial parks, companies, and several other places to observe their response to the ambitious coordinated growth plan.

During their stay in Longyan city from Dec 16 to 17, the reporters visited Siming High-Tech Park, Jinjiang (Changting) Industrial Park, and Changting Industrial Park of Medical Facilities.

Ever since the coordinated growth initiative was launched a year ago, the city has carried out 28 industrial projects worth 186.7 billion yuan ($26.69 billion), including joint efforts with other cities in southwestern Fujian, said an official with the coordinated growth office in Longyan.

Since September, six counties in Longyan have signed cooperation agreements with Xiamen to co-build industrial parks, the official added.

The Siming High-Tech Industrial Park in Longyan was co-founded by Siming district in Xiamen and Wuping county in Longyan in November 2017. The 7.52-square-kilometer industrial park focuses on research and manufacturing in the field of new materials and intelligent terminals.

A representative from the management committee of the industrial park said that Siming district offered help to the park in the form of money, technology, information and skilled workers.

With investment in the park totaling 10 billion yuan, the park began the application process to become a national high-tech industrial park, the representative said.

As of November, the industrial park was home to 59 companies, 23 of which focus on display techniques and nine on the manufacturing of new materials, while five were honored as national high-tech companies and three as provincial high-tech companies.

Officials with the management committee of the industrial park said that the total output of companies in the park in 2019 was 8.4 billion yuan and tax revenue was 350 million yuan.

Jinjiang (Changting) Industrial Park was founded in Changting county, Longyan in 2012. It covers an area of 1,000 hectares and has received investment of 496 million yuan. The park also received investment from Jinjiang in Quanzhou city.

The industrial park brings together a number of companies focusing on textile and agricultural products. Currently, the park is home to 28 companies, 18 of which have already begun operations. In 2018, the total output of the park was 1.25 billion yuan and the tax revenue was 42 million yuan.

The coordinated growth initiative also brought opportunities for Quanzhou, which has been looking to upgrade its traditional industries. Since last year, Quanzhou has fervently promoting cooperation with Xiamen in the semiconductor industry.

Reporters visited the Nan'an branch of China Silicore in Quanzhou, an industrial park focusing on the research and manufacturing of compound semiconductors.

Chen Sibin, deputy director of the comprehensive coordination office of the Nan'an branch of China Silicore, said that the park is strategically located, bordering Xiamen to the west and Jinjiang in Quanzhou to the east.

"It is also very close to the Xiang'an campus of Xiamen University and the newly-built airport in Xiamen," he added.

"Moving forward, the industrial park will take advantage of Xiamen's large supply of skilled workers, technology and capital to further improve itself," Chen noted.

As the five cities continue to deepen cooperation, the future of southwestern Fujian is looking increasingly bright.

In May 2018, the Fujian Provincial Government called for the establishment of a southwestern Fujian coordinated development area. Three months later, a joint meeting was held in Fuzhou to discuss the details.

The five cities subsequently began cooperating in transportation, industry, education, medicine, environmental protection, information, and tourism.