Aerial photo taken on June 21, 2018 shows morning view of the Lujiazui area in Pudong of Shanghai, east China.Photo:Xinhua

Shaoxing, a city in East China's Zhejiang Province, has signed 12 co-operative projects with Shanghai, at a time when China is pushing the economic integration of cities in the Yangtze River Delta, a major metropolitan area that has always been a driver of China's economic development.

The projects, including one car parts manufacturing center for automobile brands like Tesla and BMW in partnership, were also signed at a time when China increasingly relies on its domestic markets for economic growth while many overseas countries are still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic. 

With a population of 5 million, Shaoxing lies about 200 kilometers southwest of Shanghai. 

Photo taken on Jan. 7, 2020 shows an inside view of Tesla Shanghai gigafactory in east China's Shanghai.Photo:Xinhua

 According to the 12 projects signed on Saturday, a Shanghai company is going to invest in building a high-end automobile parts industrial park in Shaoxing, which will set up a research and production center to produce video lines and other products for Tesla and BMW. 

Financial projects are also an integral part of the cooperation plans. On Saturday, Shaoxing and the Shanghai Stock Exchange signed an agreement to increase cooperation in securities sector, while companies including Shaoxing City Investment Group and Guotai Junan Securities signed a deal to cooperate on projects like US dollar bonds, fund investment and bond issuance. 

Several of the projects involve partnerships in high-tech industries, such as the construction of a cell therapy ecological park and manufacturing lines of membrane and electronic component materials. 

Banking on such cooperation, a number of cities in Zhejiang have experienced rapid economic growth in recent years, which showed China's shift of its economic pattern from just relying on a few megacities to more balanced, in-depth development. 

Shaoxing's GDP is expected to exceed 600 billion yuan ($92 billion) this year, Ma Weiguang, Party secretary of CPC Shaoxing Municipal Committee said. The city's GDP stood at 578 billion yuan in 2019. 

Ma also disclosed that Shaoxing will push cooperation with Shanghai in industries like 5G, big data, cloud computing and Internet of Things, while learning experiences from Shanghai's economic zones such as the Lingang Special Area, Shanghai's latest pilot free trade zone. 

Global Times