By Liu Xinyu
(ECNS)--On the first working day of 2026, Chongqing held the conference on enhancing the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. With senior local Party, government, and departmental leaders in attendance, the "first meeting of the new year" of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle unveiled a new development blueprint, following six years of national-level promotion and implementation.
On Jan. 3 2020, the sixth meeting of the Communist Party of China Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs made a major decision to promote the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and to build an important growth pole of high-quality development.
In October 2021, a master plan issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council outlined the vision to develop the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle into an economic center with national impact, a key hub for scientific and technological innovation, a new area for reform and opening-up and a place with high-quality living standards.
According to the master plan, by 2025 the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle is projected to achieve markedly greater economic strength, development vitality, and international influence. This progress will be characterized by deeper regional integration, increasingly distinctive regional features, and a more prominent role in underpinning high-quality development across China. By 2035, it aims to be a robust and distinctive dual-city economic circle, with Chongqing and Chengdu established as modern international metropolises. Its capacity to support and drive China's high-quality development should be significantly stronger, positioning it as a vibrant growth pole and powerful engine with international influence.
Latest data shows that over the past six years, the GDP of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle has surged from 6.99 trillion yuan (RMB) in 2019 to 9.68 trillion yuan in 2024, and is expected to surpass the 10-trillion-yuan threshold in 2025. In the first three quarters of 2025, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle recorded a regional GDP of 6.6 trillion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 5.6% and accounting for 6.5% of the national total. This performance further cemented its position as a key growth engine driving high-quality development in western China. In October 2025, Sichuan and Chongqing jointly held a global investment promotion conference in Singapore, releasing cooperation invitations worth over one trillion yuan to the world.
Enhancing the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle has become an important economic priority for both regions in 2026. The recent Chongqing Municipal Committee Economic Work Conference, held at the end of 2025, listed "going all out to enhance the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle" as its first major task for the year. Similarly, the Sichuan Provincial Committee Economic Work Conference emphasized to continuously enhance the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.
At Chongqing's "first meeting of the new year," it was emphasized that through the planning and implementation of the "Ten Major Actions" aimed at advancing the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, its capacity and contribution to leading development in the western region and supporting national strategies have been substantially strengthened. The year 2026 marks the beginning of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period and a critical phase for the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle to enhance capacity. Chongqing will fully unleash its development potential, upgrade the "Ten Major Actions" and seize the momentum to create a new situation of enhancing the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.
The upgraded "Ten Major Actions" include promoting the leapfrog development of the modern industrial system, strengthening the capacity for innovation source and transformation, enhancing strategic hub services linking the Eurasian Economic Corridor, and promoting AI-enabled modernization of security governance in mega-cities. A new chapter of development centered on "capacity enhancement" has commenced, and much more of the economic circle’s decade-long development is expected to unfold.
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