An investment promotion event is held in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, on Aug 25. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A total of 45 contracted projects with a planned total investment of 116 billion yuan ($17.91 billion) were signed at an investment promotion event held in Baotou, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Aug 25.

The projects cover 14 industrial fields, such as modern energy, green agricultural and livestock products processing, new materials, ecology and environmental protection, and equipment manufacturing.

The business environment in Baotou is introduced at the event, Aug 25. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

This year, Baotou has been accelerating the transformation of government functions and making every effort to create a comprehensive and deep-level first-class business environment.

In the first half of 2021, the regional gross domestic product in Baotou was 162.70 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.7 percent. The growth rate ranked first in the autonomous region.

In the first seven months of the current year, the added value of industries above a designated size showed a year-on-year increase of 16.6 percent, ranking first among the 12 leagues and cities in the autonomous region.

The city's fixed asset investment increased by 57.7 percent year on year, standing at 37.95 billion yuan, ranking first in the autonomous region.

The event attendees, Aug 25 [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In the next step, Baotou will focus on building a modern equipment manufacturing base with nationwide influence, and comprehensively promote the transformation and upgrading of its manufacturing industry.

The city will focus on building five new industrial chains of carbon fiber, photovoltaics, polymer materials, new energy equipment, and digital industries.