The Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in East China's Shandong province holds the signing ceremony of 20 high-tech industrial projects worth more than 12.2 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) on Oct 31. [Photo/ytgxq.gov.cn]

With the signing of 20 high-tech industrial projects on Oct 31, the Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in East China's Shandong province is set to become an investing hotspot for strategic emerging industries.

The projects, worth more than 12.2 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), are expected to rake in revenues of more than 50 billion yuan per year.

Yu Dong, head of the administration commission of the zone, said that Yantai was in a crucial stage of its economic development. To speed up this development, constructing pillar industries and increasing the city’s overall competitiveness will be a top priority.

Yu said the city has rolled out a plan to build seven key industries into major drivers of economic growth, namely the information technology, food processing, non-ferrous metals and precious metals, high end chemical materials, equipment manufacturing, automobiles, and medical and health care industries.

Yu said the 20 projects were selected from 115 projects under negotiation, among which six are worth more than 500 million yuan and two are worth over 2 billion yuan.

The projects cover six sectors: Information technology, aerospace and aviation, energy conservation, environmentally friendly and new materials, medical and health care, intelligent manufacturing, high end services, and emerging marine industries. These sectors will help Yantai replace old growth drivers with new ones.

The projects include seven advanced manufacturing projects with a total investment of 3 billion yuan. After being put into full operation, they will generate revenues of more than 25 billion yuan and contribute 2.5 billion yuan to the city's fiscal revenue annually.

Seven projects worth 5 billion yuan, concerning the building of innovative development platforms, were also signed. These will provide professional and efficient services to promote entrepreneurship and industrial growth.

Yu stressed that the Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone will take measures to implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

By 2020, the zone aims to introduce three to five key projects and cultivate key enterprises, according to Yu.

To achieve this goal, the zone has set up seven industrial development service centers and international industrial cooperation centers to attract more investment.