Xinhua Insight: Countdown begins for Hangzhou G20 summit

A 100-day countdown for the Group of 20 (G20) 2016 summit was launched on Friday in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

More than 5,000 staff and volunteers preparing for the meeting attended the countdown launch event in Huanglong Stadium.

G20 is the most representative grouping of the world's major economies. China holds the G20 presidency this year, and 66 G20 conferences will be held in 20 Chinese cities, with Hangzhou as the major host.

Zhao Yide, Communist Party chief of Hangzhou, vowed on Friday that the city will host the summit with "high standards, swift service and pragmatism."

The scenic city has given its urban facilities a facelift for the high-profile event. All 651 infrastructure renovation projects, covering environmental treatment, airport expressways and hotels for state guests, are expected to be completed by the end of June, three months ahead of the opening of the summit.

Hangzhou is one of China's most beautiful cities. In preparation for the summit, the city government has entrusted the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts to help design a lighting system to further beautify Hangzhou's landmark West Lake with an artistic conception of Chinese wash painting.

The city with seven million permanent residents has mobilized more than 760,000 volunteers to serve the summit. Many of them are regular street security patrols composed of retired or elderly people.

Hangzhou resident Kong Shengdong said many older locals are busy learning some simple English phrases so they can serve foreigners asking for directions when the summit is held in September.

The city has also prepared a fleet of 100 saloon cars to ferry around state guests. Behind the wheel will be veteran taxi drivers with English and first-aid skills.

An hour of driving away from Hangzhou's downtown, Huzhou City has shut down 230 limestone mines to ensure cleaner air for the summit.

Zang Leiming, a local official, said they have taken the environmental campaign as a chance to make the resource-dependent economy more green. The mine-damaged landscape has already started to smarten up.

Hangzhou, home to e-commerce giant Alibaba and robot maker Siasun, became the 10th Chinese city with GDP surpassing 1 trillion yuan (152 billion U.S. dollars) last year.

In the first quarter of this year, the city's GDP topped 221.4 billion yuan, up 10.3 percent year on year.

Hangzhou is already home to tens of thousands of foreigners. The city's first employment service center for foreigners was inaugurated earlier this month.

Daniel Butterud, a Norwegian studying at Hangzhou Dianzi University, was among the first group of beneficiaries to set up a startup with the help from the center.

"I approached the center in the hope of starting a business to import food from Denmark to China. It provided me with consultations on Chinese policies concerning food imports," he said.

Hu Fangxiao, head of the center, said the G20 summit has accelerated the city's internationalization. "We want to attract more foreign people to seek job opportunities in Hangzhou," he said.

George Wickee, a 25-year-old from Greece, set up an electric bicycle testing firm in Hangzhou earlier this year.

"The hosting of the G20 summit has made the city more environmentally friendly. There is a big market for electric bicycles," he said.

The summit comes at a time when China is pushing various reforms to address structural imbalances that dragged the economy to its lowest growth rate in seven years in the first quarter.

China plans to steer the Group of 20 to invest more in development and put the matter at the top of the macro policy agenda, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press briefing on preparations for the G20 summit on Thursday.

He said China wants coordinated macro policy among G20 members as well as robust, sustainable and balanced growth through innovation and reform. Endi