Xiamen-BRICS trade tops 539 billion yuan

Local customs officials last week announced that cumulative trade between Xiamen and countries associated with the BRICS initiative since the 2017 BRICS summit in Xiamen has topped 539.4 billion yuan. The totals include almost 362 billion yuan in imports and more than 177.4 billion yuan in exports.

City officials added that the BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center is striving to enhance the region's land, sea and air transport network and to further open logistics channels.

Exported goods along the first BRICS city cross-border e-commerce air route between Xiamen and Sao Paulo topped 11 million items in the year through July. Additionally, the direct route between Xiamen and Durban, South Africa marked its 10th year of operation earlier this month. The route has notched more than 1.1 million TEU of throughput since its inception.

A coalition of schools affiliated with philanthropist Tan Kah Kee held a celebration in Jimei last week honoring the 150th anniversary of the prolific donor's birth. The coalition announced the formation of both the Chengyi Development Fund and the ASEAN Jimei Alumni Association. The fund will grow to a total of one billion yuan, with an initial phase pegged at 200 million yuan. The Xiamen Venture Capital Company will manage the fund.

The Internet Society of China earlier this month released its annual list of China's top 100 internet firms during a press conference in Xiamen. Four Xiamen companies made the list: Meitu (34), 4399 (46), G-bits (53) and Zhonglian (96), which debuted on the list this year.

The International Federation of Municipal Engineering announced last month the winners of its annual IFME Excellence Awards program. This year's winners included the Xiamen Mountains-to-Sea Trail project, which took home the top prize in the construction project category.

Local authorities announced that the city is home to more than 143,000 employees who are officially designated as working in the information transmission, software and information technology services sector. In related news, four local companies earned a place on a list released by Internet Society of China of national top 100 internet enterprises.

City officials announced last week that the city was home in 2023 to more than 873,000 employees who earned the official “skilled” designation, accounting for almost one third of the city's total workforce. Of the skilled group, more than 292,000 earned the “highly-skilled” designation. 

Xiamen is home to three national-level training bases for highly skilled talents in three official categories: digital creative design; intelligent manufacturing, and electrical automation. These bases partner with enterprises to provide skill training for high-tech positions in the secondary industry. 

In addition, Xiamen includes 112 municipal-level, 87 provincial-level and six national-level craftsmen workshops. The facilities encompass professions such as mechanical manufacturing, automotive maintenance, social services and traditional crafts.

China's ecology and environment ministry announced earlier this month that Xiamen's comprehensive air quality index in the year through September improved by 8.2 percent year-on-year. The city ranked sixth among 168 key cities nationwide, moving up four positions.

Local air quality ranked first in Fujian. The city's number of days to register an official “excellent” designation topped 70 percent, an increase of 10 percentage points year-on-year.

Local officials from the city's housing and construction bureau provided an update recently on a two-year program to revise the infrastructure and governance of a number of Xiamen's urban villages. They added that the program is designed to enhance the quality of life and urban development in the impacted communities.

By the end of August 2024, Xiamen had initiated 71 urban village renovation projects, including 46 that began this year. The program has included the construction of more than 300 micro-parks since 2023. More than a million square meters of illegal structures have been demolished, freeing up approximately 1.27 million square meters of public land.

Xiamen University last week launched its autumn job fair for next year's graduates, more than a month earlier than in previous years. A total of 350 companies attended the job fair, offering more than 16,000 positions. Major corporate participants included Huawei and ZTE.

The local development and reform commission last week announced the approval of a feasibility study report for the construction of a new Jimei campus for the Xiamen Number Five middle school. This project will include 42 grade school classrooms and 21 middle school classrooms. The project is slated for completion in 2026.

Local merchants are stocking up and listing products in advance of the upcoming Double Eleven e-commerce shopping festival. Shipping companies have also witnessed a significant surge in business, with some branches experiencing a 100 percent increase in volume. Shipping firms are expecting a trio of shipping peaks -- October 22 to 26, November 1 to 5, and November 11 to 15.

Local officials said last week that work continues apace for the subway system's Line Four. Train testing and debugging is currently underway. The portion of Line Four between the Software Park Three East and Caicuo stations is expected to open by the end of the year.

The full line is slated for trail and power supply completion next year, with trial operations set for 2026. Line Four will eventually connect the transportation hubs of Xiamen Xiangan International Airport and Xiamen North Railway Station.