In 2025, the province conscientiously implemented the important instructions of President Xi Jinping that Jiangsu should “strive to take the lead in advancing deeper reform and higher-standard opening up”. A number of major reform initiatives with strategic and landmark significance were steadily promoted, while high-level opening up continued to expand. Major indicators, including foreign trade volume and foreign investment utilization, remained among the highest nationwide, providing strong support for the province’s high-quality development.
Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively
New breakthroughs were achieved in key areas of reform. Efforts to develop a unified domestic market were further advanced, with Jiangsu’s interdepartmental coordination mechanism for supporting the development of this market fully utilized and a provincial task list issued. The market access system was effectively implemented, the first round of market access efficiency assessments was carried out, and special initiatives to identify and remove market access barriers were advanced in depth. Reform of the market-based allocation of factors of production continued to deepen, and pilot comprehensive reforms in this area were successfully launched in key cities in South Jiangsu. Further progress was made to refine the layout of the state-owned sector and adjust its structure, promoting the rational flow and efficient allocation of state-owned capital, and encouraging qualified enterprises of all types to establish and refine the modern corporate system with distinctive Chinese features. The Private Sector Promotion Law was conscientiously implemented, and value-added of the private sector accounted for 58.5% of the regional GDP.
Jiangsu remained at the forefront of reform in the market-based allocation of data as a production factor. The province took the lead in establishing a unified public data authorization and operation system, advanced the “Data Factor Multiplier” initiative in depth, and achieved notable progress in the development and utilization of public data. An integrated provincial-municipal public data authorization and operation platform was launched, two lists covering authorized data resources and products were issued. Jiangsu also played a leading role in developing innovative public data application scenarios, with eight scenarios selected as national demonstration projects. Existing data trading platforms across the province were integrated to establish the Provincial Data Exchange.
Business environment saw continuous improvement. A new round of initiatives to improve the business environment was launched with the issuance of the Action Plan of Jiangsu Province on Improving the Business Environment (2025). Reforms and innovation in key areas were further advanced, and a list of 57 business environment reform measures for 2025 was introduced. The mechanism for ensuring regular headway in the delivery of one-stop government services was refined, with all nationally and provincially designated key matters completed and a cumulative total of 40 million applications processed. The “Su Fu Ban” government service platform had more than 153 million registered users, with the number of monthly active users exceeding 22 million and 110 million items processed in the year. The List of Items Requiring Government Approval of Jiangsu Province (2025) was released. A unified provincial database for market entities was launched, enabling inter-provincial mutual recognition of remote bid evaluation results across 50 cities. Centralized government procurement played an effective role in reducing costs and improving efficiency for enterprises. The “12345” government service hotline continued to expand its functions, handling more than 40 million requests from the public and businesses province-wide. Market entities maintained steady growth and improved quality, totaling 14.614 million in number. The number of newly registered ones stood at 1.47 million, including 573,000 enterprises.
Further Expanding High-Standard Opening Up
Jiangsu’s open economy maintained steady growth with improved quality. Total imports and exports reached 5.95 trillion yuan, a record high. Trade with BRI partner countries accounted for more than 50% of the province’s total imports and exports for the first time. The province accounted for more than one-third of China’s exports of ships and offshore engineering equipment. Imports and exports through cross-border e-commerce platforms grew by 27.4%. Jiangsu took the lead nationwide in piloting exports of sustainable aviation fuel under a whitelist mechanism. The scale of offshore service outsourcing ranked first in China for the 17th consecutive year. A total of 3,352 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established, while the actual use of foreign investment reached 16.82 billion US dollars. Jiangsu ranked among the top in China in both manufacturing-related foreign investment and profit reinvestment by foreign-invested enterprises. The province boasted 17 national landmark foreign-invested projects and 113 state key foreign-invested projects in cumulative terms, leading the country in both categories. Jiangsu further advanced the implementation of its “Five Major Plans”, namely, expanding the international comprehensive transport system, deepening international industrial capacity cooperation, promoting Silk Road trade, upgrading key cooperation industrial parks, and fostering cultural and people-to-people exchange brand events.
Development of high-level opening-up platforms accelerated. The Jiangsu Central Asia Center was upgraded into the China–Central Asia Trade Facilitation and Cooperation Platform. Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone became a flagship BRI project. The China–UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone had 18 projects in operation or under implementation. Construction was launched for the China–Bosnia and Herzegovina Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Smart Agricultural Technology and Equipment. Progress continued in building the China–Pacific Island Countries Agricultural Cooperation Demonstration Center. The Jiangsu Pilot Free Trade Zone introduced 74 new institutional innovation measures, seven of which were promoted nationwide. Jiangsu also became the first and only province in China approved to carry out systematic reform for opening up and innovation across the entire biopharmaceutical industry chain.
International exchanges continued to expand. Jiangsu successfully organized major national events including the China Quality (Nanjing) Conference, the Meeting of the Asian Ombudsman Association, the 2025 Conference of Global Public Security Cooperation Forum (Lianyungang), and the 26th China–Japan–ROK Friendship Cities Conference. Other major events included “An Encounter with Chinese Culture” Jiangsu Week of Grand Canal Culture, the 8th Dialogue Between the Civilizations of China and the LAC, and the Jiangsu People-to-People Friendship Conference and the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the Jiangsu People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Four new sister-city partnerships were established, bringing the total number to 374, the highest in China. The 15th Jiangsu–Macao–Portuguese-speaking Countries Business Summit was held. Thirty campuses of Zheng He Academy were established in 24 BRI partner countries.