The Suzhou Open Economy and Business Development Work Conference was held on March 23. During the event, it was announced that the target for the growth of the city's retail sales of consumer goods was over 6 percent for 2023.
According to the Suzhou Bureau of Commerce, the city's total retail sales of consumer goods last year amounted to 901.07 billion yuan ($131.53 billion), a decrease of 0.2 percent, while imports and exports reached 2.57 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.6 percent. The actual use of foreign investment was $7.42 billion, up 35.9 percent, and the scale of outbound investment from Suzhou continued to rank first in the province at $1.74 billion.
The expected goals for the city's business work in 2023 were also established at the conference, including a growth of over 6 percent in the total retail sales of consumer goods, a growth of about 10 percent in the offshoring of services, and a growth of 100 percent in the foreign trade value of cross-border e-commerce.
Since the beginning of this year, the Suzhou municipal government has been leading delegations to attract investment from foreign countries. A government delegation signed 40 cooperative projects during a trip to Singapore and invited over 50 senior executives of multinational companies to visit Suzhou.
Tang Xiaodong, deputy mayor of Suzhou, stated that the city will enhance the efficiency of government services and create the best possible business environment to achieve the city's annual goals.