Guangzhou steps up efforts for better business environment

 Update:2019-12-30    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou is stepping up efforts to foster a better business environment to attract more investors, vice-mayor Chen Zhiying said on Wednesday. 

The city will work to offer better administrative services for companies and organizations that set up branches in Guangzhou, according to Chen. The goal is to help build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a global financial center, he said.

Chen further added Guangzhou will fully leverage its strengths in industrial finance, green finance, and cross-border finance to create business opportunities for investors. Chen said he hopes to see strengthened relations and more communications among financial organizations in Guangzhou.

The remarks were made during a business and investment matching meeting for local governments, investors, and financial organizations held on Wednesday in Beijing.

A total of 33 projects, covering areas such as infrastructure, financial technology, and green technology, were signed at the meeting.

Qiu Yitong, head of the Guangzhou Financial Supervision and Management Bureau, said Guangzhou is improving its business environment and has made tangible progress.

In a recent report on Chinese cities' business environments by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Guangzhou ranked at the top among 34 major cities surveyed last year.

Guangzhou will continue working to build a modern financial service system with a focus on serving the real economy, deepening financial reforms, and preventing and controlling financial risks, Qiu said.

For the first three quarters this year, Guangzhou's financial sector has seen added value of 161.95 billion yuan ($23.14 billion), up 7.8 percent year-on-year and accounting for 9.1 percent of the city's GDP in the same period.

Guangzhou Port maintains its world ranking

 Update:2019-12-30    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

Guangzhou Port has a total of 52 friendly ports covering six continents all over the world, of which eight of them were signed this year.

Guangzhou Port has seen an overall container throughput of 21.18 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in the first 11 months of this year, ranking among the top five ports in the world in both cargo throughput and container throughput, the Guangzhou Port Authority announced on Dec 26.

"The global ranking of Guangzhou Port in the construction of an international shipping center has climbed to 16th in 2019 from 28th in 2015, according to the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index. Guangzhou Port is fourth in China only to Hong Kong Port, Shanghai Port, and Zhejiang's Zhoushan Port," said Yuan Yue, deputy director of the Guangzhou Port Authority.

Yuan noted that the monthly container throughput of Guangzhou Port in September has amounted to 2.03 million TEUs, setting a historic new high. The annual container throughput is expected to exceed over 23 million TEUs.

Eight liner ship lines for foreign trade of containers have been newly added this year, bringing the total number to 217. A total of 92 lines are heading to countries alongside the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), making Guangzhou Port a major pivotal port for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to reach Africa, the Mediterranean region, and Asia.

Guangzhou Port has a total of 52 friendly ports covering six continents all over the world, of which eight of them were signed this year, including the Port of Rotterdam in Netherlands and the Port Acu in Brazil.

Guangzhou Port has devoted efforts to becoming a training base for international shipping talents. Starting from 2016, Guangzhou Port has offered professional training for 175 students from 12 port countries alongside the BRI, including Indonesia, Angola, Egypt, Fiji, Gabon, Malaysia, Poland, and Russia, upgrading Guangzhou's influence in the global shipping service industry.

In order to contribute to the construction of the Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou Port has carried out deeper cooperation with nearby ports like Shenzhen and Dongguan ports.

The port has also gained great achievements in developing its water leisure industry, as 93 cruises berthed in Guangzhou. The tourist number of overseas cruises is expected to reach 441,800, ranking third in China.

How to start business in GD under new Foreign Investment Law

 Update:2020-01-03    Source: Newsgd.com

The Foreign Investment Law took effect January 1st. According to the authorities, to start a foreign-invested enterprise, investors do not need to go through approval procedures or place a file on record with the commercial departments.

The Foreign Investment Law will bring two major changes to foreign investors in Guangdong, as reported by the Yangcheng Evening News. The new law stipulates a "national treatment plus a negative list before entry" system, meaning foreign investors will enjoy more convenience when starting up a business in Guangdong.

At the same time, in addition to registration application documents, it is also necessary to fill in the foreign investment information report. Foreign investors or foreign-funded enterprises shall submit investment information to the relevant commerce department through both the enterprise registration system and the enterprise credit information publicity system.

Statistics shows that by the end of November 2019, Guangdong had 178,500 foreign-invested enterprises, accounting for about a quarter of the country's total, ranking first in the country.

Procedures to start a foreign invested enterprise

To start a foreign invested enterprise, the applicant should log in to the site ‘One Window Acceptance System Of Guangdong Province" (http://qykb.gdzwfw.gov.cn/qcdzhdj/, in Chinese) to apply for registration of establishing a foreign-funded enterprise.

The applicant shall complete registration information and the initial report at the "Start up enterprise" module. During the registration process, the investor shall guarantee it meets the requirements of Special Management Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List), clarify the industry category and code, and check the special management based on the actual situation.

Notably, the procedures for the establishment of foreign-invested enterprises in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai shall be formulated respectively by local governments. Please pay attention to the policies issued by local market regulatory authorities.

Guangzhou ranks 21st among global innovation clusters

 Update:2020-01-09    Source: Chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou supports the development of industries spanning the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, biological medicine, new energy, new materials, and marine technology.

Guangzhou has made great breakthroughs in developing technological innovation in 2019 as the city ranked 21st among the world's top 100 innovation clusters, rising from its 32nd ranking in 2018.

The Global Innovation Index, jointly released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University, and graduate business school INSEAD, started to rank the world's top 100 innovation clusters in 2017.

A total of 19 innovation clusters from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were listed among the rankings, second only after the United States, which had 26.

According to a report released by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) on the innovation capacity of domestic innovative cities in 2019, Guangzhou ranked third among all 72 national innovation cities and was listed as second among the eight science and technology resource rich cities.

Research and development projects in major areas have been carried out in Guangzhou, expecting to make breakthroughs in a number of advanced key core technologies in the next three to five years, as well as to support development in fields spanning the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, biological medicine, new energy, new materials, and marine technology.

More than 3,100 innovation platforms above provincial levels have been established in Guangzhou and 10 national technology business incubators have been designated, ranking first in China, bringing the total number in Guangzhou to 36.

The technical contract turnover has been considered as an important indicator for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Guangzhou's technical contract turnover reached 71.9 billion yuan ($10.32 billion), ranking tops in Guangdong province for the first time in recent years.

Guangzhou has also taken the lead in the number of high-tech companies, as well as small and medium-sized technology-based companies, thanks to Guangzhou's efforts in improving its local business environment.

The annual growth rate of Guangzhou's high-tech companies was 57.39 percent from 2016 to 2018, which was tops among all major cities in China.

Guangzhou to become an innovation tech hub for the Greater Bay Area

 Update:2020-01-10    Source: Newsgd.com

According to the Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau (Guangzhou Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs), the value of Guangzhou’s tech contract deals amounted to 100 billion RMB in 2019, up from 71.902 billion RMB in 2018, which was in turn double that of 2017.

Guangzhou, the 21st ranked cluster among the top 100 S&T clusters in 2019, moved up 11 places from its 2018 ranking of 32nd, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019, an innovation ranking benchmark. The GII 2019 also highlighted that China is home to 19 of the top 100 S&T clusters, and was ranked 14th among more than 100 economies worldwide, moving up three spots from 2018. It is also the only middle-income economy in the top 30. The GII report was jointly released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University and several other organizations.

To become an innovation tech hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou has placed particular emphasis on the frontier science fields. In 2019, the city spent 15 billion RMB on building major science and technology infrastructure, such as a deep-sea ecosystem, a dynamic wide-range velocity vehicle test unit, human cell lineage, and an integrated scientific investigation system for extreme marine environments.

Last May, Guangzhou entered into an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to build the 99 square kilometre Nansha Science City with its core area being the Pearl Science Park. The Science Park will serve as both the city’s science and technology and its high-end service centers when it is completed. The construction of the park officially started last September.

Statistics show that the average annual growth rate in the number of new high-tech enterprises in Guangzhou was 57.39% between 2016 and 2018, ranking first place nationwide. Over those three years, more than 3,000 new high-tech enterprises established themselves in the city. By the end of 2019, however, the total number is expected to exceed 12,000.

In addition, Guangzhou attaches great importance to attracting high-end talent. In 2017, the city unveiled a new set of measures for simplifying the work visa process including optimizing the workflow, simplifying application documents and shortening approval time. In August 2019, the city put forward specific implementation and measures regarding personal income tax deductions for high-demand individuals working in the city within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Now there are a huge number of high-end professionals working in the city:

● 3265 high-end foreign professionals with a Category A Work Permit, a 49% year-on-year increase

● 54 individuals from outside the Chinese mainland designated as ‘high-level talent’, accounting for 72% of the province’s total number

● 8 Nobel laureates

● Over 20 foreign academics

● 389 specially-invited experts introduced by the Recruitment Program of Global Experts

Huangpu welcomes another international advanced biomedical project

 Update:2020-01-15    Source: Chinadaily.com.cn

GDD signs a strategic cooperation agreement with Sinotech Tianze Biotech (Guangzhou) Co Ltd on Jan 11.

Guangzhou Development District (GDD) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Sinotech Tianze Biotech (Guangzhou) Co Ltd on Jan 11 to join hands in promoting the development of high-end biomaterials and medical devices.

Sinotech Tianze Biotech (Guangzhou) Co Ltd was set up in GDD by Arthur Coury, former chairman of the Society for Biomaterials, as well as Wang Hao, doctor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his research team. A Sino-US research institute for advanced biomaterials was also established.

The research institute will focus on research and development along with the application of the new generation of bionic biomaterials, while the company will develop and industrialize the research outcomes of the institute.

In addition, the company will undertake a project, led by Arthur Coury, on basic bionic biomaterials, which can be widely applied to various medical devices, particularly interventional medical equipment.

The technology is expected to be released on the market within two years, reducing the country's import dependence, and is expected to be launched on the science and technology innovation board. The annual turnover of the technology in the upcoming five years will reach 3 billion yuan ($434.16 million).

A person in charge of the company pointed out during the signing ceremony that GDD, having complete infrastructure and abundant technological companies, is an important economic growth hub for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the whole of China, suitable as it is for the settling and development of technological projects and high-caliber talents.

WTO holds forum on platform economy and IPR protection in Nansha, Guangzhou

 Update:2020-01-16    Source: Newsgd.com

The 2020 Forum on Global Trade, Technology Innovation and Intellectual Property was held from January 14th to 15th in Nansha Guangzhou.

With the theme of ‘platform economy and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection’, the forum shed light into how the platform economy affects the trading of products, and dig deep into the topic through six sub-forums on the effects, economic value, legislation, law enforcement, and technologies of IPR protection under the context of platform economy.

Yi Xiaozhun, Deputy Director General of World Trade Organization, said technologies, especially the development of Internet, have changed the international trade massively in terms of trading modes and subjects over the past decades.“The forum aims to share the experience of global trade, knowledge innovation and IPR system,” Yi said.

“The forum invites different stakeholders, such as IP owners, platform operators and administrators, from all over the world,”he added,“we confront similar opportunities and challenges so it will benefit our stakeholders to further communication on management, legal issues and new technologies including AI and blockchain.”

The forum attracted judges of IP Courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, government officials of related departments, IPR administrators from countries including Europe, Canada and Basil as well as representatives of tech enterprises including Alibaba, Xiaomi and Baidu.

Han Xiucheng, Director of Intellectual Property Department & Research Center of China National Intellectual Property Administration, revealed that platform economy takes up more than 10 percent of China’s GDP and the number is growing rapidly, and he said IPR policy is vital to protect platform technologies and encourage innovation from platform operators.

Han said China has been attaching importance to IPR protection since 2012.“Improving our protection on IPR needs efforts from different stakeholders. While Enterprises should also raise their awareness of IPR management and protection as well,”he said.

In addition, the forum witnessed the release of the Trade and Intellectual Rights Nansha Initiative which shows the determination to improve IPR protection through better understanding of market demands, enhancing administrative and legal protection as well as fostering professional IPR management institutions. Guangdong Provincial Office of Pilot Free Trade Zones, Guangdong Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, Guangdong Sub-Administration of China Customs, Nansha FTZ, Qianhai FTZ and Hengqin FTZ jointly signed the Initiative.

The forum was held by WTO, Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation and Intellectual Property Development and Research Center China National Intellectual Property Administration.

Guangzhou Port launches five new international liner ship lines

 Update:2020-03-10    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

A total of five international liner ship lines departing from Guangzhou Port are launched from Feb 27 to March 7, mainly heading to Southeast Asian countries.

A total of five international liner ship lines departing from Guangzhou Port have been launched from Feb 27 to March 7, mainly heading to Southeast Asian countries.

The line running between South Korea and Xinsha Port of Guangzhou Port in Guangdong's Dongguan was launched on Feb 27. The line, which passes areas including Ulsan, Busan, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Xiamen, was expected to transport cold and dangerous goods, as well as chemicals and daily necessities.

The route heading to areas in the Middle East, loaded with 395 China-made automobiles, started operation by Japan's KLINE from Xinsha Port on March 3. The route has made contributions to the exports of China's automobile companies, providing new methods for the main engine plants in the South China area to expand their markets to areas like Africa and Europe.

The route running between Russia and Nansha Port of Guangzhou Port in Guangzhou launched on March 3. It is expected to be an excellent opportunity for Russian wood resources to reach the Guangdong market, further lowering the transportation costs and time in importing wood.

Quality fruit from Thailand can arrive in Nansha Port through the new route that is running among Thailand, Vietnam, and Nansha. It only takes three days to travel from Nansha Port to the Port of Haiphong in Vietnam and five days from Laem Chabang, Thailand to Nansha.

Another line running between Nansha, Vietnam, and Thailand is also available, as it takes four days to travel from Nansha Port to Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam and six days from Laem Chabang to Nansha.

"These new lines can not only be positive to Guangzhou's regional economy but can also serve the whole Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Currently Nansha Port can reach ports in all Southeast Asia countries, boosting the deep cooperation between the Greater Bay Area and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries," said Song Xiaoming, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Port Group.

Guangzhou accelerates construction of AI and digital economy pilot zone

 Update:2020-04-07    Source: Newsgd.com

Guangzhou held a mobilization activity for accelerating the construction of AI and digital economy pilot zone on March 31st.

(File Photo of the ceremony)

Guangzhou issued the outline plan for the construction of the Guangzhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone in February. Centered in Pazhou, the pilot zone straddles the banks of the Pearl River with a total area of 81 square kilometers.

Of the pilot zone, the Pearl River south bank innovation cluster, namely the Pazhou core area (including Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center) takes up about 48 square km; the Pearl River north bank integration development cluster (including Guangzhou international financial center) is about 8 square km and the Yuzhu area is about 25 square km.

The activity saw the online opening ceremonies of the national new demonstration base for new industry (big data) and Guangdong laboratory (Guangzhou) for AI and digital economy, live broadcasting the signing of 98 projects, opening of 44 projects and the 99 project start-ups. The total investment in the projects has exceeded 580 billion yuan.

According to Cao Dahua, executive deputy director-general of the Office of the Leading Group for the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Deputy Director-General of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the acceleration of the comprehensive development of Guangzhou's Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone is a specific move to coordinate COVID-19 control with economic & social development, further expanding the return work and production initiative. It is also another important measure furthering Greater Bay Area development.

Guangzhou will use the opportunities in development of the digital economy and implement the overall plan issued by the province. The Office for the Construction of the GBA will increase its support in coordination, industrial innovation and other fields.

Chen Zhiying, vice mayor of Guangzhou, said that Guangzhou will accelerate the construction of new types of infrastructure such as 5G, big data centers and the ‘industrial Internet’ as part of the pilot zone. The city will be rejuvenated with the development of new business models like online economy, digital industry.

Chen expects all academics, experts and entrepreneurs to strengthen their cooperation with Guangzhou. The city will further the reform of the business environment and provide high-quality services.

Ni Guangnan, Li Yanhong, Sergei Chizhik and other scientists and entrepreneurs from both China and overseas spoke highly of Guangzhou's prospective industrial layout and the acceleration of the development of both AI and digital economy industries.

They said that as the core city of the GBA, Guangzhou has a remarkable business environment, government services and scientific research resources. The aggregation of R&D platforms and leading enterprises put Guangzhou at the forefront.

Expansion for Guangzhou Port channel enters final stage

 Update:2020-04-13    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

The last phase of the widening project for Guangzhou Port's deep-water channel starts construction on April 3.

The last phase of the widening project for Guangzhou Port's deep-water channel started construction on April 3.

Guangzhou Port, being an international hub port, has played a significant role in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The seaward waterway of Guangzhou Port is one of the busiest golden waterways in the world and has been the lifeline for Guangzhou Port, Humen Port, as well as the port area in west Shenzhen.

The last phase, which covers a total length of 8.2 kilometers, is expected to have 2.94 billion yuan ($415.49 million) in overall investment. The whole construction will last until the end of July this year.

The widening project will put an end to the one-way navigation of large container ships between the mouth of the Pearl River and the Nansha Port area, allowing the channel to handle two-way navigation for 100,000-ton container vessels and 150,000-ton container vessels

The construction for a batch of major projects like the fourth phase of Nansha Port will be further accelerated to ensure the full operation of the widening project for Guangzhou Port's deep-water channel by July.

Nansha port opens new shipping line to North America

 Update:2020-05-20    Source: Newsgd.com

The liner Brighton of Danish logistics firm Maersk docked in Nansha Port in Guangzhou on May 15, marking the first operation of a new shipping line by the 2M Alliance linking Nansha and North America.

The 2M Alliance was jointly set up by Maersk Line and Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Co SA. The alliance has opened new shipping lines heading to the eastern part of the United States and northern Europe in 2019.

The shipping line is expected to dock in Nansha every Friday and arrive in Vancouver, Canada in 22 days via Yantian Port in Shenzhen, Shanghai Port, Port of Busan in South Korea, Yokohama Port in Japan, and Prince Rupert Port in Canada.

With the help of railways, cargo transported by the new shipping line can be further transported to areas in North America including Chicago and Detroit in the US, as well as Toronto and Montreal in Canada, boosting economic and trade cooperation between Nansha and North America.

An expert said that the new line will provide excellent opportunities for smart home appliances made in Guangdong province to arrive at markets in North America and further reduce the cost in both transportation and time for companies.

"With the help of relevant departments like Nansha customs, the new shipping line was launched successfully, offering a variety of convenient choices for companies in the Pan-Pearl River Delta," said Mo Bin, director of the business development department from Guangzhou South China Oceangate Container Terminal Co Ltd.

Nansha Port has seen continuous improvement in its efforts to become an international shipping hub. It has opened a total of 107 international shipping lines by the end of May, carrying out marine trade with more than 400 ports from over 100 countries and regions around the world, clustering over 7,000 shipping logistics companies.

The liner Brighton of Danish logistics firm Maersk docks in Nansha Port on May 15.

Policy refreshed to attract professionals

 Update:2020-05-22    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

The State-level Guangzhou Development District has updated its talent attraction policy to spur the innovative and entrepreneurial activities that have fueled its dynamic growth.

GDD, which is located in Huangpu district in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, has demonstrated a strong economic development that is in need of professionals at different levels.

Based on the first version launched in 2017, the second talent attraction policy adds new subsidy items, expands the scope, simplifies application qualifications and changes the selection pattern to make it one of the best in China, said He Mindan, deputy director of GDD's organization department, at a news briefing on May 12.

The second version, which includes 10 articles, will be effective for three years starting from May 17, He said. It covers awards to professionals, subsidies to talent projects, housing allowance awards to skillful workers, and awards to service agencies.

According to the local government, the policy mainly attracts professionals in the industries of science and technology, finance and intellectual property. It also renders support to doctorate and postdoctoral experts who are engaged in fundamental research and applied research, and optimizes the subsidy for skillful workers, educational and health professionals, and university graduates.

"It's a comprehensive policy where professionals, their projects and the companies that introduced talent as well as the platforms and agencies involved in talent attraction will all get corresponding support," said Zhou Jin'gao, director of the human resources and social security department of Huangpu district.

"We aim to turn human resources into human capital," he noted.

According to the new professionals attraction policy, top-level professionals will be provided with free apartments while the professionals at lower levels can get a housing allowance of up to 5 million yuan ($703,420), which can solve the housing problems of the professionals amid rising house prices.

Top-level professionals who are bringing in projects can access a fund of up to 1.5 billion yuan from the local government. Second-level professionals can receive a startup subsidy of no more than 10 million yuan and an investment award of another 10 million yuan.

Companies or institutes that set up a postdoctoral research center or innovation center in GDD will gain a subsidy of up to 500,000 yuan.

The postdoctoral experts who are in research centers can be entitled to a living allowance of 200,000 yuan, a startup fund of 150,000 yuan for their scientific research project and an award of no more than 100,000 yuan.

The local government also encourages headhunting companies and talent service agencies to introduce professionals and quality projects and attract new companies.

Once they are recognized as high-end talent service organizations, they can receive a subsidy of 300,000 yuan annually and another 300,000 yuan as a reward for successfully introducing a qualified professional, according to the new policy. The annual accumulative award will be no more than 3 million yuan each.

Zhang Jiancun, chairman of Guangzhou Henovcom Bioscience, a company that is engaged in the research of new medicine, said the government is generous in attracting professionals, which can benefit companies a lot.

"Professionals are essential to the development of high-tech companies, especially in the industries of biomedicine, artificial intelligence, new energy and new materials. The policy is very strong and attractive to win over professionals," Zhang said.

According to the local government, it has arranged a more than 1.4 billion yuan fund to subsidize and award individuals and companies since the first version was launched in 2017, benefiting at least 4,000 experts.

The number of professionals that were recognized as talent by programs at different levels rose from 200 to 925, ranking first in Guangzhou by district. More than 160 State-level professionals are operating projects or businesses in the district, providing big support to local economic development.

Baiyun Airport’s comprehensive bonded area reports 77.3% foreign trade growth in Q1

 Update:2020-05-22    Source: Newsgd.com

Guangzhou Baiyun Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone Administration recently reported its foreign trade volume hit 3.92 billion yuan in Q1 with a 77.3 percent year-on-year growth. Cross-border export volume exceeded 1.6 billion yuan up about 85 percent year on year during the pandemic period.

As the spread of the virus has been controlled nationwide, Guangzhou Aerotropolis Development District has adopted a series of strategies to help enterprises back to work and boost economic growth.

The district has organized more than 50 inspection tours to enterprises and released policies to support them such as tax and rent reduction. All of the district’s enterprises and construction projects are now back up and running.

In addition, the district has been continually committed to fostering the cross-border e-commerce business and introduced 15 related projects in recent years. With a total investment of more than 15 billion yuan, the project will be put into operation over the coming 1 to 3 years.

According to its plan, the value of the cross-border e-commerce commodities circulating in the bonded area will exceed 100 billion yuan by 2022 and the main business income of its enterprises will be in excess of 20 billion yuan. Thus far, more than 1000 trade, customs clearance, logistics and cross-border e-commerce companies have settled in the comprehensive bonded area.

To better the business environment, Guangzhou Aerotropolis Development District has also been continuously compressing the time needed for customs clearance.

During the pandemic, the district put significant effort into guaranteeing the delivery of medical supplies and equipment, and coordinated 7 aircraft to send medical donations to 12 international sister cities of Guangzhou in Iran, South Korea, Italy, Japan and France. It’s presently working on the second and third batches of donations to European and African countries.

New policies set to promote Greater Bay Area development

 Update:2020-05-29    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Workers construct a railway bridge in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, which is a key project relating to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development.

China has announced new policies and pilot programs to promote the financial opening-up and integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as part of the efforts to help the area play a lead role in the nation's economic development, experts said.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, and regulators of the banking, insurance, securities and forex sectors jointly issued 26 new measures late on Thursday to guide financial reforms in the area.

Under the measures, pilot schemes would be started for qualified foreign limited partner, qualified domestic limited partner, and qualified domestic investment enterprises, enabling institutional investors in Hong Kong and Macao to participate in private equity and venture capital funds in the Greater Bay Area through the QFLP scheme, said a statement on the PBOC website.

The area, which includes nine Guangdong cities and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, is one of the regions with highest opening-up level and the most dynamic economy in the nation, said noted economist Song Qinghui.

He said the new policies will further stimulate market vitality and boost high-quality economic development in the region. Moreover, it will also help transform the area into a world-class city cluster and pioneer the nation's economic advancement, he said.

Xing Yujing, president of the Shenzhen Central Subbranch of the PBOC, said the new measures will help the social and economic development of the region as it recovers from the novel coronavirus epidemic.

The guidelines also called for the setting up of funds for key projects in the Greater Bay Area, allowing capital from insurance firms and bank's wealth management units in the Chinese mainland and the two SARs to participate.

Channeling funds from the overseas and domestic markets for infrastructure construction in the Greater Bay Area will be an effective measure to speed up cross-border financial connections, said Yu Lingqu, deputy director of the Department of Finance and Modern Industries at Shenzhen-based think tank the China Development Institute.

He said the area could form a first-class innovative capital funding center with each city bringing its advantages into full play, such as Hong Kong's initial public offering market and Shenzhen's high-tech industries.

In the banking sector, a joint account system combining Chinese and foreign currencies is in the pipeline to promote cross-border trade and investment in the area. Local residents will be able to invest in wealth management products issued by mainland, Hong Kong and Macao lenders.

Song Yuesheng, vice-chairman and chief executive of Hang Seng Bank (China) Ltd, said such an account system will function as "a financial cross-border bridge" and release substantial cross-border financing demand.

"The expected growth in cash flow will help financial institutions to innovate their services and products," he said.

Buoyed by the record surge in cross-border financial exchanges last year, the bank in April launched online capital checking and transfer services for customers with two accounts across the border.

In addition, a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area international commercial bank will be set up in the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone, regulators said. Commercial banks will be encouraged to set up financial asset investment companies and wealth management companies in the area, without any caps on foreign ownership.

Guangzhou to set up China's first blockchain development pilot zone

 Update:2020-06-01    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, has been approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to construct the first blockchain development pilot demonstration zone in the country, accelerating the city's development of its blockchain technology and industry in the years ahead.

As a major software industrial hub in the mainland, the southern metropolis has also introduced specific measures for the city's development of blockchain technology and industry 2020-22, according to a statement released by the city government on Friday.

"Guangzhou will continue to spare no effort to promote blockchain innovation and development and take blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technology, and strive to build the city into a domestic blockchain industry cluster in innovation and application industries.

Major companies in the city will be encouraged and guided to develop and integrate blockchain technology with finance, information, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain, bio-medicine, scientific research, logistics, intellectual property, industrial Internet and related industries in the coming years, to further upgrade their supply chain technologies and digital transformation, said the statement.

"Guangzhou has a dynamic scientific research atmosphere, rich human resources and strong economic development momentum, and therefore, the city has its great advantages to become a new and major blockchain technological and industrial center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou has continuously strengthened the deep integration of the blockchain technology and various fields of the traditional economy, and built a new engine for high-quality economic development in the city, the statement said.

To this end, Guangzhou has expanded its cooperation with major internet and technology companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, JD and Baidu, in developing its blockchain technology and industry, the statement added.

According to official statistics, Guangzhou has, so far, registered more than 400 blockchain companies mainly involved in government administration, finance, bio-medicine, people's livelihood and manufacturing industries.

Guangzhou's GDP reached 1096.829 billion yuan in the first half year of 2020

 Update:2020-07-28    Source: Newsgd.com

Guangzhou saw positive economic growth in the second quarter of 2020 although its GDP went down by 2.7 percent year on year in the first half (H1) of 2020 to 1096.829 billion yuan. It was boosted by recovering development of information service industry, financial industry and others.

In detail, the added value of Guangzhou's primary, secondary and tertiary industry reached 11.617 billion yuan, 283.807 billion yuan and 801.405 billion yuan, with an increase of 4.4%, a decrease of 7% and a decrease of 0.8%, respectively, according to Feng Jun, deputy director of Guangzhou Statistics Bureau. Regarding the added value of the city's IT service industry and financial industry, they saw increases of 14.3% and 8.1%, respectively.

Emerging industries contributed a lot for the city's economic growth in H1, with the added value reached 289.768 billion-yuan, accounting for 26.4% of the city's GDP. For instance, the added value of IAB (information technology, AI and bio-technology) industry increased by 2.5%.

Guangzhou's fixed-asset investment increased by 1.5%, 8.9 percentage points higher than that in Q1, 2020. And its infrastructure investment increased by 4.7%, 8 percentage points higher than that in Q1.

As of now there are 183 new infrastructure projects under construction in the city, that is double over the same period last year, and the actual investment increased by 23.7%. Furthermore, Guangzhou has built 25,300 5G base stations.

Turning to foreign trade, the city's import and export volume was 425.36 billion yuan, with a decrease of 7.6%. Among them, exports went down 1.7% and the imports fell 13.8%. In its trade with the Belt and Road countries, the ASEAN, Oceanian countries and African countries volume rose by 8.3%, 21.7%, 15.1% and 5.4%, respectively.

According to the statistics bureau, Guangzhou will accelerate its economic development in the second half of the year due to the fast growth of a digital economy, new industries and further measures on epidemic prevention and control.

Guangzhou holds talk with representatives of foreign companies

 Update:2020-07-29    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

A talk with foreign companies from Europe in Guangzhou is held on July 28. 

Co-organized by the Guangzhou Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, a talk with foreign companies from Europe in Guangzhou was held on July 28.

Representatives from relevant government departments, such as the foreign affairs office of the Guangzhou municipal government, the Guangzhou municipal education bureau, the Guangzhou municipal commerce bureau, as well as the exit and entry administration department of the Guangzhou municipal public security bureau were invited to participate in the event.

Issues that European businessmen in Guangzhou were most concerned about in areas like foreign affairs, business, and education were discussed.

Representatives from foreign companies highly praised Guangzhou's effective measures in fighting against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and expressed their gratitude to Guangzhou for creating an open business environment.

Guangzhou holds first off-line robot & smart manufacturing fair after pandemic

 Update:2020-08-10    Source: Newsgd.com

The China (Guangzhou) International Robot & Intelligent Manufacturing Exhibition kicked off at China Import and Export Complex in Guangzhou on August 6th. It’s the industry’s first off-line exhibition nationwide after the COVID-19 pandemic and it will last until Saturday on August 8th.

The exhibition covers an area of 40 thousand square meters and has more than 400 enterprises display their latest products. These enterprises include key intelligent equipment suppliers such as SINOMACH, Xpeng Motors and PCI Tech.

SINOMACH displays the mask-making machine they developed during the pandemic. 

“The number of exhibitors increase despite of the pandemic. They bring a wide range of products including industrial robots, service robots, drones, smart wearable electronics, 3D printing technologies and IoT technologies. They show stronger interest in expanding domestic market this year,” said Liang Wanqian, operator director of SINOMACH Intelligence Technology and one of the organizers of the fair.

Colamark, a Guangzhou-based company, brings its vision tablet counter to the fair this year. Protected by various patents, the machine employs high speed imaging technology to provide tablet counting solution.

Zhou Ying, sales director of Colamark, said Europe and US are the major markets of the machine due to their strong demand for precise tablet counting technology. “Our clients include 17 of the Global Top 30 pharmaceutical manufacturers ranking in 2019. Now that the pharmaceutical industry is rapidly developing in China, expanding the domestic market will be our new focus.”

Smart equipment is a key component of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry in Guangzhou and is fundamental to the city’s economy. The Guangzhou government has been fostering the industry through advantageous policies in recent years. It has clustered a large number of related companies, and the output of its smart equipment industry reached 131 billion yuan in 2019.

Supported by the Guangzhou government, the fair is organized by Guangzhou Industry and Information Technology Bureau and SINOMACH.

Guangzhou strives to be world-class automobile base

 Update:2020-08-26    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

The automobile output of Guangzhou in 2019 reached 2.92 million, ranking first in China. 

Guangzhou is striving to build a world-class automobile industry cluster base, said Chen Jianhua, chief economist of the Guangzhou municipal industry and information technology bureau, during a press conference held in Guangzhou on Aug 24.

Guangzhou's automobile industry has maintained stable growth and the automobile output of Guangzhou in 2019 reached 2.92 million, ranking first in China. The production value of Guangzhou's automobile industry in 2019 reached 546.1 billion yuan ($79.02 billion), accounting for 28.4 percent of the city’s total industrial output value above designated size.

The city has released a document on boosting the development of its automobile industry on Aug 17, outlining several goals, such as achieving an annual automobile output of over 5 million by 2025, reaching a production value of 1 trillion yuan for its automobile industry above designated size, realizing the initial commercial operation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, as well as forming a relatively complete world-class auto parts industry supply system.

Major automobile companies are encouraged to carry out integration, mergers and acquisitions, as well as strategic cooperation to build globally outstanding brands. A bonus of up to 100 million yuan for market promotion will be rewarded to companies with independent research and development ability for five consecutive years.

New models independently developed by local companies achieving a sales volume of over 10,000 in the first year of their debut can receive a one-time subsidy of up to 100 million yuan.

The city will build a comprehensive base for the smart network automotive electronics industry, with manufacturing companies that are newly introduced into the base eligible to receive a reward according to their fixed investments.

The document put forward that an experts think tank on the automobile industry in Guangzhou will be established to hold roundtable conferences regularly, carrying out discussions in pressing issues spanning graphene batteries, all solid state batteries, and ultralight materials.

New economy reshapes Guangzhou's future development pattern

 Update:2020-09-02    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou has been devoting efforts to developing its new economy to reshape its future development pattern in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the complex economic situation.

Guangzhou has continued to be committed to opening up. By early August, it has opened four new international China-Europe freight train routes. The China-Europe freight trains have sent off 2,870 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 44.08 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020, with the cargo transported weighing 14,442 metric tons, increasing by 63.43 percent.

The trade between Guangzhou and ASEAN countries has seen prosperous development since 2020 as the import and export volume between the two sides grew by 21.7 percent to 68.4 billion yuan ($10.03 billion) in the first half of 2020.

The city has also seen a full recovery of the exhibition industry following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic earlier in the year. Luo Zheng, an official from the Guangzhou municipal commerce bureau, said that the exhibition halls in Guangzhou's Pazhou area have undertaken more than 50 exhibitions from early July to Aug 25, attracting nearly 1 million exhibitors and visitors.

Guangzhou's total retail sales of consumer goods have seen sequential growth for three consecutive months since April.

Apart from developing its three traditional pillar industries, namely automobiles, petrochemicals, and electronic information manufacturing, Guangzhou has been focusing on the development of the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine.

Guangzhou to hold international colloquium on Greater Bay Area development

 Update:2020-09-04    Source: Newsgd.com

An international colloquium (an important academic meeting to ask questions and create answers) on the economic development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is about to kick off on September 5th, during which global scholars will shed light into the industrial development after the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the emerging challenges of global trade.

Organized by the Guangdong University of Finance & Economic (GDUFE), the colloquium will have 14 high-profile scholars from the Greater Bay Area, US, UK and Australia to present on topics closely related to the GBA development and post-pandemic economy.

Yu Haifeng, President of GDUFE, said this is the fourth year for the university to organize the colloquium but the first year to hold it online due to the ongoing global pandemic. “The colloquium has already attracted great attention in academia because countries are seeking effective strategies to revitalize the economy while the development of Greater Bay Area, a major engine of China’s economy, is gradually coming back on track.”

According to Yu, the participants are either representative scholars involving in global bay area research or entrepreneurs with working experience in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. “I believe our brainstorming will actively contribute to regional development and our global partnership,” said Yu.

Shen Minghao, Director of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Research Center of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies said he would discuss about the possibilities to build the Greater Bay Area an engine to drive the fourth industrial revolution at the colloquium. “I will focus on how to make good use of the resources in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and attract the world’s top-notch designers, researchers and producers of the intelligence industry.”

Shen Minghao considered this as a prospective topic as the fourth industrial revolution is about to come and the intelligence industry has been a global trend. “The Greater Bay Area is a major manufacturing center for intelligent hardware. If we look at the cellphone industry, the output in the Greater Bay Area takes up 60 percent of the total production in China and 40 percent around the globe. The area has also fostered a series of global brands such as Huawei, Tencent and DJI.”

Huang Qingan, Dean of International Business School of GDUFE, said universities provides an important platform for international exchanges. Teachers and students of the Greater Bay Area have the nature advantage to connect with global counterparts. He hopes people could seize opportunities to embrace the world and contribute to international communication and cooperation.

Plan issued for promoting urban integration between Guangzhou, Foshan

 Update:2020-09-04    Source: Newsgd.com

Guangzhou and Foshan recently issued an overall construction plan to establish a 629 square kilometers high-quality development integration pilot area for pushing urban integration in ecology, transportation, industry, culture and society.

Both Guangzhou and Foshan are located in the core area of the Pearl River Delta, which are geographically connected with the same historical heritage and culture. As for the economic aggregate, they are the second and third largest city in Guangdong, accounting for nearly 40% of the province's GDP volume.

According to the plan, the pilot area includes nine districts and one administrative committee of two cities, (Panyu District, Liwan District, Baiyun District, Huadu District, Nansha District in Guangzhou; Nanshai District, Shunde District, Sanshui District, Chancheng District and Sanlongwan high-end innovation administrative committee in Foshan). The total area is about 629 square kilometers, including 275 square kilometers in Guangzhou and 354 square kilometers in Foshan.The pilot area will promote a "1 + 4" integrated development pattern around the 197 km boundary between Guangzhou and Foshan. "1" refers to the Guangzhou South Railway Station-Foshan Sanlongwan-Liwan Hailong Area, "4" refers to the Huadu-Sanshui District, Baiyun-Nanhai District, Liwan - Nanhai District and Nansha-Shunde Districts.

Highlighting high-quality and integration, the plan proposes three goals in different phases. By 2022, initially, the pilot area will establish a framework for a cross-regional collaborative governance system, and become a policy innovation center for the Greater Bay Area.

Since the integrated development of Guangzhou and Foshan, the two cities have built 27 inter-city roads and 5 railways, one of which, the Guangfo Line helps to cut the travel time between the two cities from 90 minutes to 30 minutes.

Regarding traffic integration in the future, it plans to build 29 more inter-city roads for improving the integration of the public transportation system. The area will take advantage of an annual 200 million passenger flow brought by the Guangzhou South Railway, then build up a modern new town around the railway station.

In terms of industry, Guangzhou and Foshan have promoted exchanges in various fields such as automobile, medicine, and manufacturing. The number of industrial cooperation projects reached to 31 and 4,291 companies have achieved mutual investment.

Next, it will focus on the major areas of advanced equipment manufacturing, automobile, new-generation of information technology, bio-medicine and health, to establish a total of 30 industry platforms and several trillion RMB -level industrial clusters.

GAMECO, Boeing to jointly build second freighter conversion line

 Update:2020-09-11    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

GAMECO holds its first 737-800 BCF door-cutting ceremony at its Guangzhou base, South China's Guangdong province, June 16, 2020. 

A second freighter conversion line will be built in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Company Limited (GAMECO) and Boeing jointly announced on Wednesday.

The move comes after GAMECO started operations of the first production line of 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) project in June this year.

The new production line is expected to be put into use in 2021, which will allow GAMECO to significantly increase its production capacity to meet the surging demand for freighters.

Companies can extend service life of aircraft and better meet market demands by converting passenger airplanes to freighters. GAMECO and Boeing launched the first 737-800BCF production line work in Guangzhou last year amid the growing need in the air cargo market. The novel coronavirus epidemic this year has further increased the demand for freighters carrying vital medical supplies and equipment, and also has pushed airlines to shift more of their business to air cargo, Boeing said.

The world will see 2,820 freighters come to the civil aviation market in the next 20 years, including 1,220 standard-body passenger-to-freighter aircraft, according to Boeing. China is expected to account for 30 percent of global demand for standard-body freighters.