CCTV News: At the series of press conferences on "China's High-Quality Economic Development Achievements" held by the State Council Information Office, a relevant person in charge of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council said that in 2024, the development of central enterprises has made a series of new progress.

In 2024, the total assets of central enterprises exceeded 90 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%; the added value, total profit and taxes and fees paid all achieved stable growth.

New momentum is further enhanced. The annual R&D funding investment was 1.1 trillion yuan, exceeding one trillion yuan for three consecutive years; investment in strategic emerging industries increased by 21.8% year-on-year, accounting for more than 40% of the total investment.

The development of new mass productivity has taken solid steps, and has achieved a series of major innovative achievements such as Chang'e-6 and Shenzhen-China Channel; and has made a series of new breakthroughs in the fields of integrated circuits, quantum communications, high-end equipment manufacturing, etc.

Focusing on the development and strengthening of the real economy, actively promoting restructuring and integration and the establishment of new companies, China Resources Circulation Group and China Digital Logistics Information Company were officially established, the professional integration of new energy power batteries was actively promoted, the cruise operation platform company started with high quality, and important progress has been made in the optimization of state-owned capital layout.

The reform of state-owned enterprises has further deepened and implemented the deepening and improvement action of state-owned enterprises in depth. At present, the average completion rate of the main tasks has exceeded 70%.

China Council for the Promotion of International Trade: China's foreign trade shows a good trend of quality improvement and volume in 2024

The reporter learned at the press conference of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade held on January 17 that in 2024, the national trade promotion system issued a total of various commercial certificates such as certificates of origin, an increase of 13.9% year-on-year compared with the previous year.

Data shows that in 2024, the national trade promotion system issued a total of 7.0736 million commercial certificates of various types, including certificates of origin, an increase of 13.9% year-on-year. Among them, the total amount of non-preferential certificates of origin in the national trade promotion system was US$371.767 billion, an increase of 1.23% year-on-year; the total amount of preferential certificates of origin was US$77.116 billion, an increase of 18.13% year-on-year; the total amount of RCEP certificates of origin was US$7.982 billion, an increase of 10.35% year-on-year; 10,966 outbound ATA documents, an increase of 18.26% year-on-year.

At the press conference, the Council for the Promotion of International Trade also released the "2024 China Business Environment Research Report". The report shows that China's overall business environment is constantly being optimized, and Chinese and foreign companies are highly satisfied. The surveyed companies evaluated China's business environment in 2024 at 4.37 points (out of 5 points), and nearly 90% of the surveyed companies evaluated China's business environment as "very satisfied" or "relatively satisfied", an increase of 2.1 percentage points from 2023. Among them, some interviewed companies hope that the government will increase its efforts to reduce taxes and fees, strengthen the publicity and interpretation of policies that benefit enterprises, and continuously optimize the business environment.

In addition, the spokesperson of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade said that the work of the Third Chain Expo is being carried out in an orderly manner, and nearly 70 well-known Chinese and foreign companies have signed contracts to participate in the exhibition.

The express delivery industry ushered in a peak of New Year's goods delivery

The reporter learned from the State Post Bureau that since the beginning of 2025, the national express delivery business has been in a high state, with an average daily business volume exceeding 550 million pieces. Especially after the Spring Festival travel rush started on January 14, the demand for New Year's goods delivery has increased. Data shows that from January 14 to 16, the average daily express delivery volume nationwide exceeded 670 million pieces.

The number of Chinese netizens exceeded 1.1 billion, and the Internet penetration rate reached 78.6%.

The China Internet Network Information Center released its 55th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" on January 17. The report shows that as of December 2024, the number of Internet users in China reached 1.108 billion, and the Internet penetration rate reached 78.6%, ranking first in the world.

China's newly discovered super-large-scale rare earth ore

The reporter learned from the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources that China has discovered super-large-scale ion adsorbed rare earth ore in the Honghe area of ​​Yunnan Province, with potential resources of 1.15 million tons, of which more than 470,000 tons of key rare earth elements such as praseodymium (pǔ), neodymium (nǚ), dysprosium (dī), terbium (tè), which is another major breakthrough after the first discovery of ion adsorbed rare earth ore in Jiangxi in 1969.

The five large-span continuous beams of the entire Xiongshang High-speed Railway were all integrated.

On January 17, the large-span continuous beams of the Yanggu Super Bridge of the Xiongshang High-speed Railway were successfully integrated. At this point, all five large-span continuous beams on the entire Xiongshang High-speed Railway have been integrated. The Xiongshang High-speed Railway starts from Beijing-Xiong-City Xiongan Station in the north and ends at Shanghehang High-speed Railway Shangqiu Station in the south. It is 551.97 kilometers long and has a designed speed of up to 350 kilometers per hour. It is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in September next year.

The world's tallest bridge under construction, Guizhou Huajiang Canyon Bridge, Helong

On January 17, the key control project of the Liuzhi to Anlong Expressway in Guizhou, the Huajiang Canyon Bridge, was successfully opened to traffic within 2025. The total length of the bridge is 2890 meters, the span of the main bridge is 1420 meters, and the height from the bridge deck to the water surface is 625 meters. After completion, it will become the largest and highest mountain bridge in the world with a span.