The second session of the 13th People's Congress of Zhejiang Province opens on Jan 27 in Hangzhou. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

Zhejiang province will make the integration of its Ningbo and Zhoushan cities a priority in 2019, said the Provincial Governor Yuan Jiajun in his annual work report at the opening ceremony of the second session of the 13th provincial people's congress, which opened on Jan 27 in Zhejiang's capital Hangzhou.

It is the first time that the issue has been mentioned in the annual provincial government report. 

The integration of the two neighboring cities has been an idea of both governments since last July when a delegation of Party and government leaders from Ningbo visited Zhoushan and the two sides discussed building a community of a shared future. 

"Ningbo and Zhoushan were 'of one family' in history and are 'good neighbors, buddies and brothers' in the present day. We should follow the central government's guideline of promoting the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, to strive and achieve high-quality integrated development," said Zheng Shanjie, Party chief of Ningbo at the discussion on July 19, 2018.

Zheng also raised six suggestions for the integrated development of the two cities in the areas of infrastructure, reform and opening-up, industry, markets, public services and environmental protection.

Yu Donglai, Party chief of Zhoushan, affirmed the determination for Zhoushan to integrate into Ningbo and expressed his hope for both sides to deepen cooperation to secure mutual benefits.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, a result of the combination of Ningbo Port and Zhoushan Port, handled 1.08 billion metric tons of cargo and 26.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2018, ranking 1st worldwide in cargo throughput for the 10th consecutive year and rose to the world's 3rd in terms of container throughput.

A delegation of Party and government leaders from Ningbo visits Zhoushan on July 19, 2018. [Photo/zhoushan.cn]

The Ningbo-Zhoushan Port [Photo/IC]