The State Council has agreed to upgrade the high-tech industrial development zone in Maoming city, Guangdong province, to a State-level industrial development zone, according to a circular issued on March 7.

With a planned area of 9.81 square kilometers, the development zone will be composed of three sections. The specific boundaries of each section will be announced by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said the circular.

The zone should fully implement the strategy of innovation-driven development, and pool resources in scientific and technological innovation to enhance its capability for independent innovation.

By optimizing its ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation, cultivating new industries and business formats, and upgrading traditional industries, the zone should strive to become a powerful engine for driving regional economic restructuring and transformation of development mode, and a frontier in new and high technologies around the world.

The circular also urged the zone to strictly implement the overall plan for land use and urban development, go through approval procedures, and supply land according to law.

Related departments should strengthen leadership and management of the zone and explore a sound ecosystem to speed up its development, the circular said.