Workers and robotic arms operate at the production line of Volkswagen Anhui, the carmaker's first electric vehicle joint venture in China, in Hefei, Anhui province, on May 21, 2025. [Photo provided to CHINA DAILY]

　　Anhui province has benefited greatly from and will steadfastly advance high-level opening-up, while continuously enhancing the level of development of its open economy, the province's top official said.

　　"We have continuously innovated the paths of opening-up, enriched the platforms and enhanced the capacity for opening-up," said Liang Yanshun, secretary of the Communist Party of China Anhui Provincial Committee and a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

　　Liang Yanshun

　　The inland province in East China, with a population comparable to that of France and an area similar to that of Tajikistan, has achieved a series of significant development milestones in the past year and over the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

　　Statistics show that Anhui's gross domestic product grew 5.5 percent year-on-year in 2025, reaching 5.3 trillion yuan ($769.1 billion), surpassing the size of Argentina's economy.

　　President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has made three inspection tours to Anhui since 2016, with the latest being in October 2024.

　　Liang said that President Xi provided important guidance and outlined practical pathways for steadfastly advancing high-level opening-up, taking into consideration domestic and international contexts.