On July 25, the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office held a media briefing on the Three-Year Action Plan for the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta Region (2024-2026). Gu Jun, director of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Government, and director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, introduced the details of the Three-Year Action Plan for the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta Region (2024-2026). Bai Guoqiang, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, presented key work priorities for ecological and environmental protection cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta region. Zhang Zhongwei, executive deputy director of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office and deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Ling Ming, deputy director of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office and deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Chen Haitao, deputy director of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office and deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and Zhong Lan, deputy director of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office and deputy director of the Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission, attended the media briefing and answered questions from reporters. Recently, the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office has issued the Three-Year Action Plan for the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta Region (2024-2026) (hereinafter referred to as the Three-Year Action Plan), which clarified the roadmap and tasks within the Yangtze River Delta in the next three years, marking a key step forward for integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. I.Background and Main Considerations for the Three-Year Action PlanOn November 30, General Secretary Xi Jinping led a symposium in Shanghai on deepening the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. He emphasized the importance of the “Four Coordinations”: 1. Coordinating scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation; 2. Coordinating leading enterprises to leverage their strengths; 3. Coordinating hardware connectivity with mechanism coordination; 4. Coordinating ecological and environmental protection with economic development. The symposium outlined five key tasks: 1. Strengthening cross-regional coordination of scientific and industrial innovation; 2. Improving the integrated development institutions and mechanisms; 3. Promoting high-level coordinated opening-up; 4. Strengthening joint protection and governance of the ecological environment; 5. Enhancing safe development capabilities, thus calling for new major breakthroughs in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China introduced new requirements for regional coordinated development. Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui have jointly prepared a new three-year action plan as a key carrier and means to implement Xi’s important speeches and the CPC Central Committee’s major decisions. Through project-based and list-based initiatives, these regions aim to accelerate the tasks of the national strategy for the Yangtze River Delta’s integrated development.In formulating the third round of the three-year action plan, four key principles were emphasized: 1. Serving the national targets and interests: The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta should align with the national development strategy, driving high-quality growth to support China’s modernization; 2. Global vision and strategic thinking: benchmarking against the highest international standards, the plan aims to expand institutional opening-up, create a high-level gateway for international cooperation and competition, and lead in forming a new pattern of reform and opening up; 3. Effective market and proactive government: The plan emphasizes the role of businesses in discovering demand, implementing projects, and driving institutional innovation in a bid to bolster the inherent driving force for integrated development. Concurrently, it aims to improve institutions and mechanisms for integrated development, promoting the rational flow and efficient allocation of resources across regions; 4. Leading demonstration and driving development: The focus is on key areas and regions to pioneer reforms and innovations, while boosting institutional integration of major reform and innovation measures. Enhancing innovation capabilities, industrial competitiveness, and development levels will drive coordinated development on a larger and deeper scale.II. Main Contents of the Three-Year Action PlanShanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui have aligned with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s directives and national requirements. Based on their unique contexts, they have proposed nine key areas with a total of 165 tasks for the new three-year action plan.1. Strengthening Cross-Regional Coordination of Scientific and Technological Innovation in the Yangtze River Delta. A total of 20 key tasks include: Deepening collaboration on the two comprehensive national science centers in Zhangjiang and Hefei; Supporting Nanjing and Hangzhou-Ningbo in establishing regional science and technology innovation centers; Enhancing basic research cooperation and exploring the establishment of the Yangtze River Delta Basic Research Joint Fund for interdisciplinary studies; Forming an innovation consortium around major research tasks; Supporting the construction of new R&D institutions with flexible policies on registration, financial support, evaluation, incentives, and asset management; Expanding the Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center system; Strengthening regional collaboration on talent policies and promoting cross-regional recognition of talent evaluation standards and qualifications; Facilitating the interconnection of science and technology innovation vouchers; Encouraging Fortune 500 foreign-invested enterprises and internationally renowned research institutions to establish R&D centers and joint laboratories in the region to work with innovation partners on major technology projects; Implementing industrial innovation cooperation projects with Singapore and Finland in the Yangtze River Delta.2. Jointly Building a World-Class Industrial Cluster in the Yangtze River Delta. The plan outlines 20 key tasks, including: Implementing high-quality development actions for key manufacturing industrial chains and establishing a new energy vehicle industrial chain system in the Yangtze River Delta; Supporting the low-altitude economy by developing general aviation and accelerating the infrastructure, product R&D, and manufacturing for low-altitude industries; Promoting future-oriented industries by creating a national-level future-oriented industry pilot zone and releasing application scenarios and typical cases of future-oriented products in the region; Accelerating the construction of two data center clusters: the integrated development demonstration zone cluster and the Wuhu cluster; Promoting the integrated development of the science and technology innovation industry in the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor and accelerating the construction of the G60 satellite Internet industry cluster.3. Accelerating the Improvement of Institutions and Mechanisms for Integrated Development. The plan includes 25 key tasks, such as: Deepening the unified online-offline model for government services, promoting cross-provincial remote virtual windows, and innovating “one-stop” integrated cross-provincial services; Enhancing health information interconnectivity and exploring mutual recognition of medical examinations and tests; Optimizing medical insurance services for cross-regional treatment and expanding the number of designated medical institutions; Establishing a working mechanism for integrated rail transit operations and exploring the creation of a Yangtze River Delta rail transit operation company; Promoting the establishment of a multimodal transport center in the Yangtze River Economic Belt; Developing a unified coordination mechanism for cross-regional laws and policies to standardize legal applications across the Yangtze River Delta; Strengthening the functional capabilities of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office; Improving the life cycle management system for territorial planning in the demonstration zone, increasing land quotas for construction projects, continuing the development of the Watertown Lobby, and establishing a regular mechanism for releasing, replicating, and promoting institutional innovations.4. Accelerating Regional Market Integration. The plan includes 23 key tasks, such as: Issuing measures for market supervision departments in the Yangtze River Delta to support the construction of a national unified market pilot zone; Unifying market access regulations, including investment enterprise access, and establishing a negative case notification and collection system for violations of the market access; Formulating and implementing an action plan to improve logistics quality, efficiency, and cost reduction; Building the “Yangtze River Delta on Rail” and launching a loop train connecting key cities within the region; Developing a distinctive water transport network by completing and starting various waterway regulation projects; Exploring the establishment of a financial integration service mechanism in the region; Deepening the integration and application of fiscal electronic bills within the region; Formulating and implementing the “Implementation Plan for Power Coordination and Mutual Aid among Provinces and Cities in the Yangtze River Delta.” 5. Promoting High-Level Coordinated Opening-Up in the Yangtze River Delta. The plan includes 22 key tasks, such as: Formulating and implementing special measures to relax market access in Pudong New Area, building a high-level market access system, and piloting new fuel bunkering (e.g., bonded liquefied natural gas, biofuels, and methanol) for international ships; Supporting Hongqiao International Central Business District in becoming a leading area for the “Silk Road E-commerce” cooperation pilot zone, and increasing the linkage between the CIIE and other exhibitions across the Yangtze River Delta; Encouraging differentiated explorations in bulk commodity resource allocation and biomedicine in the free trade pilot zones of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui; Establishing the Yangtze River Delta “Belt and Road” High-Quality Development Promotion Association; Encouraging private enterprises to participate in economic policy formulation and strengthening legal guarantees for private sector development.6. Strengthening Joint Protection and Governance of the Ecological Environment. The plan includes 17 key tasks, such as: Ensuring seamless connection of ecological protection “red lines”; Continuing the “10-year fishing ban” in the Yangtze River; Coordinating governance of estuaries and bays in key areas like the Yangtze River Estuary and Hangzhou Bay, and promoting comprehensive water environment management in the Taihu Lake Basin; Developing a regional plan for joint construction and governance of “zero-waste cities” and strengthening solid waste supervision in the Yangtze River Delta; Jointly building a public service platform for the green and low-carbon supply chain in the region; Implementing green manufacturing projects and creating low (zero) carbon parks and factories; Formulating and executing a new energy system construction plan, including creating a green energy storage base of tens of millions of kilowatts and a pumped storage base in East China; Promoting the integration of charging platforms across the region, sharing data and information on charging infrastructure, and developing a regional new energy vehicle charging and swapping network; Exploring the establishment of a cross-regional emission rights trading system.7. Exploring and Building the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation. The plan includes 10 key tasks, such as: Organizing the “Liangzhu Forum” and participating in major projects like the Chinese Civilization Origin Exploration Project and “Archaeology China”; Supporting the joint application of Jiangnan Water Towns for World Cultural Heritage status; Promoting the construction of the Yangtze River and Grand Canal National Cultural Parks; Developing interconnected red tourism routes, “follow archaeology to travel,” and “follow the event to travel” experiences; Formulating and implementing a new round of integrated development plans for the sports industry, and organizing major cross-regional sports events and brand activities; Promoting the Grand Yellow Mountain area as a world-class leisure, vacation, and health tourism destination; Supporting the promotion of excellent cultural works, cultural heritage, and high-quality tourism products to overseas markets.8. Expanding and Deepening Urban Cooperation. The plan includes 15 key tasks, such as: Collaborating with the Ministry of Natural Resources to develop territorial planning for the Yangtze River Delta, and jointly compiling and implementing the overall territorial planning for the Shanghai metropolitan area; Promoting coordinated development among the metropolitan areas of Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou, with a focus on industrial division, technological innovation, and high-level opening up; Deepening integrated development between Suzhou and Shanghai, and comprehensive integration of Jiaxing and Shanghai; Accelerating the construction of resilient and safe cities, enhancing urban cooperation in flood control, drainage, and emergency management; Advancing the “one area and six counties” industrial cooperation zone and deepening the Jiangsu-Anhui cooperation demonstration zone; Promoting the construction of the Jiading-Kunshan-Taicang collaborative innovation core circle.9. Improving Safe Development Capabilities. The plan includes 13 key tasks, such as: Continuing to strengthen, supplement, and extend the industrial chain, supporting leading enterprises to drive collaborative innovation; Accelerating the construction of ultra-high voltage projects, including Shaanxi power into Anhui, Gansu power into Zhejiang, and advancing preliminary work for Inner Mongolia power into Jiangsu and Shanghai; Establishing a strategic alliance for the integrated emergency materials and equipment guarantee system in the Yangtze River Delta; Coordinating the preparation of an integrated plan for the Yangtze River Delta earthquake monitoring station network.III.Strengthening Ecological and Environmental Protection Cooperation in the Yangtze River DeltaGuided by the new three-year action plan, the Yangtze River Delta Regional Ecological and Environmental Protection Cooperation Group Office has issued the “2024 Work Priorities for Cooperation in Ecological and Environmental Protection in the Yangtze River Delta Region,” detailing 54 key tasks focused on three main areas:1. Jointly Consolidating the Regional Ecological Foundation. The focus is on the coordinated control of ecological space, the construction and protection of ecological barriers, enforcing the “10-year fishing ban” in the Yangtze River, and improving the value realization mechanism of ecological products. The 2024 initiatives include: Pilot Regional Spatial Ecological Environment Evaluation: This evaluation will be conducted in the integrated demonstration area, refining control and evaluation units, formulating a regional ecological environment management list, and implementing differentiated and refined management; Special Plan for Yangtze River System Ecological Corridor: Completing the plan and compiling a task list for the construction and protection of the Yangtze River mainstream and related water system ecological corridors; “10-Year Fishing Ban” Enforcement: Unwaveringly promoting the ban and carrying out value accounting of ecological products in the demonstration area.2. Strengthening Coordinated Regional Environmental Governance. The focus in the atmosphere area is to coordinate governance of ozone and PM2.5, deepen governance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in key areas including petrochemicals and chemical industries around Hangzhou Bay under the unifications of standards, monitoring, and law enforcement, jointly enforce restrictions for National III diesel trucks and regularly share data from regional atmospheric monitoring stations. In terms of water environment, we will step up pollution prevention and control by focusing on important water bodies in river basins and nearshore waters. We will continue efforts in protection and restoration, comprehensive governance of the Yangtze River Estuary-Hangzhou Bay, and water environment governance in the Taihu Lake Basin. We will implement the special governance and ecological construction plan for cross-regional water bodies in the integrated demonstration area and establish an emergency linkage mechanism of “one river, one map, and one policy” for the entire Taihu River Basin. In terms of solid waste, we will leverage the “Zero-Waste Cities” initiative to guide regional cooperation, formulate a regional co-construction plan, and accelerate collaborative sharing of solid and hazardous waste utilization and disposal capabilities. We will bolster coordinated supervision and enhance supervision of cross-border solid waste transfers and joint law enforcement against illegal dumping.3. Promoting Regional Green and Low-Carbon Development. First, we will vigorously promote the optimization of the energy structure. While ensuring regional energy security, we will continue to control total coal consumption in key areas, advance the low-carbon transformation of energy and electricity, and enhance mutual assistance and protection capabilities among provinces. Second, we will foster the green and low-carbon development of transportation. This includes jointly building the Yangtze River Delta on the Rail, promoting sea-rail transport, increasing the proportion of water-to-water transit, and deepening pollution prevention and green cooperation for regional ships and ports. Third, we will advance the green development of industries. We will accelerate the elimination of outdated production capacity and the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries. By cultivating green and low-carbon supply chains and leading green enterprises, we aim to enhance the level of green development in the industry. Additionally, we will accelerate the promotion of regional emission rights trading, green finance, and other institutional innovations, striving to develop replicable and scalable policies and systems.In the next phase, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui will fully implement the spirits of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and the resolution of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC. We will diligently translate the grand vision outlined by General Secretary Xi Jinping into detailed plans and real-world outcomes, collaboratively crafting a new chapter in integrated development and boldly leading the way in Chinese-style modernization.