Jilin is garnering more attention on the world stage because of its strategy to further open up, according to a top leader of the province.

Bayin Chaolu, Party chief of Jilin province, made his comments at a news conference on the sidelines of the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing.

He said that Jilin has grasped the opportunity of the Belt and Road Initiative to promote all-round opening-up and integrate its growth with the global economy.

The Party chief said Jilin has formed three passageways to the east, west and south for transporting its cargo to the world.

In its east, the Hunchun railway port, which is adjacent to Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Sea of Japan, reported cargo throughput of 2.5 million metric tons in 2017, a massive 30 percent growth from the previous year.

Last year's cargo transportation through the western passageway - the Changchun-Manzhouli-Europe freight train service - registered exponential growth of 37 times that of 2016.

According to Bayin Chaolu, Jilin has established business ties with 185 countries and regions, including 64 involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The province has designated a number of industrial parks and zone for cooperation in international business, including Changchun New Area, Hunchun International Collaboration Demonstration Zone and Changchun Automobile Industrial Zone.

Relying on their cutting-edge technologies and topflight quality, a number local companies have developed into heavyweight players in international markets, according to the Party chief.

Changchun-based automaker FAW Group has built 13 overseas production plants. The CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles has supplied its products and solutions to subway rail projects in Boston, Melbourne and Bangkok.

Markedly improved product quality is one of the reasons behind the strong performance of local players in international markets, according to local business leaders.

They agreed that this is in line with the province's strategy to seek a new model of growth that highlights quality rather than quantity.

Sun Naibo, vice-president of the Jilin branch of China Development Bank, said the bank would assist Jilin's economic transformation by giving more support to high-quality projects.

To achieve sustained growth, local enterprises have made heavy investment in research and development.

Companies like CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles and Changguang Satellite Technology has invested more than 3 percent of their annual revenues in R&D.

While local players have made headway in their global operations, Jilin has also seen increasing inbound investment from multinationals.

According to the Party chief of Jilin province, 100 multinationals on the Fortune Global 500 list have so far launched investment projects in Jilin.

Bayin Chaolu added that over the past five years Jilin's inbound investment - by investors from the rest of the country and the world - totaled 3.4 trillion yuan ($537 billion), with an average annual growth of 17.03 percent.