Over the past year, North China's Shanxi province made steady progress in developing its economy, witnessing significant improvements in various sectors and milestones in high-quality development.

In 2024, Shanxi's innovation capability ranking rose by five places. The province nurtured 1,599 new high-tech enterprises and 626 specialized, refined, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. Additionally, 120 "Shanxi Premium" products gained acclaim both at home and abroad, and exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products more than doubled.

As part of efforts to boost green development, Shanxi established 38 new provincial-level green factories, afforested 3.19 million mu (212,666.67 hectares), and controlled soil erosion over 5.8 million mu. It also maintained the largest populations of North China leopards and brown-eared pheasants nationwide. Work on the "Clear Water into the Yellow River" project commenced, and rapid progress was made, with the water quality at the Fenhe River's entry point into the Yellow River reaching excellent standards for the first time.

On the transportation front, the Fenyang-Shilou and Fushan-Linfen expressways were completed and opened, achieving the goal of county-level highway connectivity a year ahead of schedule. The three No 1 tourism highways, spanning 13,000 kilometers and costing nearly 100 billion yuan ($13.67 billion), were fully completed three years ahead of schedule.

Moreover, a total of 22 reforms aimed at efficiently completing tasks that benefit residents and businesses were implemented. Efficient integrated services such as newborn registration and enterprise investment project initiation in demonstration zones were promoted nationwide. A total of 15 livelihood projects, including subsidies for the elderly and children, assistance for disabled students, and digestive health screenings, were fully implemented.