Chongqing is not the only city in western China with ambitions to become an international financial center. Its rival for the title is Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

Liu Xinjun, deputy director of the Chengdu reform and opening-up commission, says any city in western China that is looking to become more open to the outside world can achieve that in part by turning itself into a financial center.

"The country's opening-up essentially started with the coastal regions, and cities in the hinterland were regarded as being cut off. The Belt and Road Initiative brings tremendous opportunities for western China to embrace the outside world."

However, Liang Qizhou, deputy director of the Chengdu municipal finance office, says the financial sector cannot take off unless nonfinancial industries are developed.

"Chengdu serves as a point of convergence for the Belt and Road Initiative and the Yangtze River Delta region. Chengdu is strong in industries such as information and technology, architecture and construction, which are also the key areas for the countries along the Belt and Road route. As the initiative unfolds there will be more opportunities for Chengdu to work with the outside world."

Chengdu will build itself into a center for financial institutions, financial innovation and as a trade center, he says.

"We will cultivate some of Chengdu's core competitive advantages in finance by building a strong capital market and an offshore business transaction center, strongly support startup businesses and develop new modes of financing."

Chengdu's GDP grew to 782 billion yuan ($118 billion; 109 billion euros), or 8 percent, in the first nine months of last year, according to official figures. At the same time, the value of the financial sector grew by 17.9 percent.

Liang says the financial sector will be worth 200 billion yuan by 2020, about 26 percent of the service sector and 14 percent of GDP. By 2025, the financial sector will be worth 400 billion yuan, accounting for 33 percent of the service sector and 18 percent of GDP, according to forecasts.

Many banks, including the Sichuan branch of China Development Bank, have helped in the effort to involve Chengdu in the Belt and Road Initiative, Liang says.

Zhao Yaozhong, director of the bank, says: "Between 2004 and 2015, we made loans totaling 47.7 billion yuan to big construction projects in Chengdu, including airports, railways and highways."

"We have advanced loans to help domestic companies go abroad. The value of our foreign-exchange loans amounted to $2.7 billion for seven key clients, whose business cover eight countries including India, Norway and Australia."

The Sichuan branch of Agricultural Bank of China has facilitated about six key clients to go abroad in line with the Belt and Road Initiative, and the contract volume hit $4.1 billion, covering nine nations along the routes of Belt and Road Initiative.

"As the initiative is implemented, our company's overseas business will become a strong growth driver," says Shen Maoxia, director of Sinohydro Bureau 7 Co Ltd, which focuses on hydro construction projects, and is headquartered in Chengdu. The company had revenue of 20 billion yuan last year, 3.8 billion yuan of that from outside China.

"We estimate that our overseas sales as a proportion of the whole will increase from 20 percent last year to 30 percent this year," Shen says.

The company is working on 33 projects overseas, in Asia, Europe and Africa, including in Malaysia, Macedonia, Mexico, Pakistan and Sudan.

Contact the writer through huhaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/29/2016 page7)