At an investment promotion event on Wednesday, Baotou city of Inner Mongolia autonomous region witnessed the signing of dozens of investment agreements worth a total of 116 billion yuan ($17.93 billion), as the city steps up efforts to ensure sustainable development amid the national drive for carbon neutrality.

The 45 investment deals signed cover various fields, such as modern energy, ecological environmental protection, equipment manufacturing and the digital industry.

"Baotou will drive the sustainable development of a green, low-carbon and environmental-friendly circular economy," Vice-mayor Wang Xiulian said at the event.

About an hour's flight from Beijing, the city is a major industrial hub also famous for rich mineral resources and is known as a "rare earth capital".

Baotou's proven reserves of rare earths account for 84 percent of China's total, and 38 percent of the world, data from the city government showed.

"Focusing on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, Baotou will prioritize the development of industries such as new rare earth materials, advanced steel, non-ferrous metals and other cutting-edge new materials, as well as wind power, photovoltaic, hydrogen energy, nuclear energy, energy storage industries," Wang said.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), plans are for Baotou to seize the opportunities presented by China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, to accelerate the creation of a modern commercial ecosystem with diverse development and multi-level support.

In the first half of the year, Baotou's municipal GDP reached 162.7 billion yuan, up by 15.7 percent year on year. Its growth rate ranked first in the region. As of August 13, the city has signed a total of 523 projects, with a total investment of 778.9 billion yuan.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deal-signing event was conducted both online and onsite. There were about 100 participants on Wednesday's event, including representatives from the world's top 500 companies as well as China's top 500 companies.

Wednesday's event was co-hosted by the CPC Municipal Committee of Baotou and the Baotou municipal government, and was undertaken by the Development and Reform Commission of Baotou.