BEIJING — Vice-Premier Han Zheng announced on Sept 6 that German chemical giant BASF's Verbund site in the city of Zhanjiang, South China's Guangdong province, has entered its full-scale construction phase. 

Addressing the inauguration ceremony via video link in Beijing, Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also announced the operation of the first plants of the Verbund site.

With a total investment of about 10 billion euros (about $9.93 billion), the site will be the third-largest BASF site in the world, and the largest single investment project by a German enterprise in China.

The Verbund site is of vital importance for China and Germany to deepen trade and investment cooperation, jointly address the impact of COVID-19 and safeguard the security and stability of the industrial and supply chains of the global petrochemical industry.