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.

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

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

Guangzhou launches world's 1st internet arbitration standards

 Update:2020-09-21    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

The press conference for the launch of the "Guangzhou Standard."

The Guangzhou Arbitration Commission (GZAC) officially released its recommended standards for internet arbitration on Sept 10, which were the first of its kind around the world.

The standard will be shortened to "Guangzhou Standard" according to international conventions.

"GZAC has taken the lead in discovering and optimizing remote court hearings, giving full play to the advantages of internet technologies to bring convenience for both parties involved and the arbitrator," said an expert in civil law.

The expert added that remote court hearings allow people to solve disputes in a timely fashion due to the current COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures, greatly supporting the smooth operation of the local economy and society.

GZAC has handled a total of 276 foreign-related cases from August 2019 to August 2020, a year-on-year increase of 48.3 percent, of which nearly 80 percent of these cases were related to countries and regions alongside the Belt and Road.

GZAC established the first generation of its online arbitration platform for internet disputes in 2015 and launched a new platform in October 2019 that integrates online filing, remote court hearings, blockchain storage, and intellectual examinations, reducing the average closing time for a case to within around 20 days.

The "Guangzhou Standard" has now won support and recognition from many arbitration organizations in China and abroad. GZAC has signed memorandums of cooperation with arbitration organizations from 18 countries and regions, such as Singapore, South Korea, Hungary, Egypt, Thailand, and Iran, as well as several domestic ones to promote the "Guangzhou Standard."

"We will strive to keep in line with the highest standards around the world to turn GZAC into a global leading organization to make more contributions to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road," said a person in charge of GZAC.

Guangzhou explores cooperation with Japanese-invested companies

 Update:2020-10-28    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

A conference on exchanges in the investment and business environment for Japanese-invested companies is held in Guangzhou on Oct 22. 

A conference on exchanges in the investment and business environment for Japanese-invested companies was held at Hotel Canton in Guangzhou on Oct 22.

Attendees of the conference included Hideki Ishizuka, consul general of Japan in Guangzhou, Hu Hong, vice mayor of Guangzhou, more than 40 senior managers from 17 Japanese-invested companies in Guangzhou, as well as local government officials.

The conference has been held six times since 2013, establishing a high-efficiency and convenient communication platform between the local government and companies.

Hu said that the revival of Guangzhou's economy since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) couldn't be achieved without the support of local companies, including Japanese-invested companies.

Hu expresses his hope that the conference can further support the development of Japanese-invested companies in the city and make contributions to the establishment of a world-class business environment.

Ishizuka extended his gratitude for the support offered by the Guangzhou government in his speech and noted that he hopes Japanese-invested companies in Guangzhou can grasp the development opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. He added that he hopes Japanese-invested companies can enhance communications and cooperation with Guangzhou in areas spanning scientific innovation, talents, education, and culture.

Kenji Shimizu, director general of the Guangzhou office of the Japan External Trade Organization, said that Guangzhou has provided a lot of support for Japanese-invested companies, as well as that the city has a complete and huge industrial cluster, which offers strong competitiveness for companies.

Shimizu added that the Greater Bay Area is a very large consumer market and that is very attractive to companies to conduct manufacturing in Guangzhou, which is so close to the market.

Japan is one of the most important partners in investment and trade, as well as the third largest source of the foreign capital actually used in Guangzhou.

At present, Japan has invested in 699 projects in Guangzhou in areas spanning automobiles, elevators, household appliances, and logistics supply chains, with a contractual foreign capital of $7.01 billion, as well as $6.68 billion of foreign capital actually used. The economic and trade cooperation between Japan and Guangzhou has now expanded to areas like smart manufacturing, new energy, finance, and logistics.

Guangzhou: the rise and rise of global metropolis

 Update:2020-11-10    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, is registering progress in building an open and inclusive international metropolis.

According to a research report carried out by the Guangdong Academy of Social Science, Guangzhou's average annual growth rate of GDP has been 6.8 percent since 2016, 0.3 percentage points higher than the national growth rate of 6.5 percent in the same period.

Guangzhou's total GDP in 2019 alone reached 2.36 trillion yuan ($363.1 billion), accounting for one-fourth of the total in Guangdong province.

And in 2019, the per capita GDP of Guangzhou reached more than 150,000 yuan, approaching the level of high-income countries and regions, the report said.

Guangzhou's business volume of express delivery hit 6.35 billion last year, coming first in the country, the report said.

The construction of "digital infrastructural facilities" is also being accelerated in the city with 20,261 5G stations constructed in the previous year.

"Guangzhou now has the largest number of 5G stations and its construction of 5G facilities is the fastest in the mainland," said the report.

The southern metropolis, which has held China Import and Export Commodities Fair, known as Canton Fair, for more than 60 years, is also the host city of many major international conferences and events in recent years.

Guangzhou has also achieved progress in construction of an international shipping center and aviation hub in recent years.

Guangzhou Port now operates a total of 217 international container ocean routes to more than 200 international ports and cities, with the city's cargo throughput and container business volume reaching top five in the world.

And Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport has become the third-largest airport in the mainland. The airport, which handles 230 international flights, registered more than 70 million passenger/visits last year.

Guangzhou's foreign trade volume came to more than 473.78 billion yuan in 2019, up 12.7 percent year-on-year and coming first in major foreign trade cities in the mainland.

Guangzhou's unemployment rate has been lower than 2.5 percent since 2016. The city is surveyed to become to first choice for the inflow of talents in China thanks to its continuously improving working and living environment in recent years.

In cultural construction, Guangzhou has constructed Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou Library, Guangzhou National Archives, Nanyue Palace Museum and other major cultural infrastructural facilities in the previous years, demonstrating its rich and historical culture.

Now Guangzhou has built a total of 433 public libraries, or outlets, achieving its goal of having a library for every 80,000 people ahead of schedule.

The city has also constructed 64 museums, 12 cultural centers and 2,702 village (community) cultural service centers, allowing the city's area of public cultural facilities of every 10,000 residents to reach 1,515 square meters, coming first in mainland.

Nansha held the IFF 2020 Annual meeting, focusing on global sustainable development

 Update:2020-11-24    Source: Newsgd.com

（Photo: Alice)

On November 21st, Guangzhou Nansha held the 17th IFF (International Finance Forum) Global Annual Meeting. The conference was attended by nearly 200 domestic and foreign financial dignitaries, experts and scholars, as well as more than 400 guests.

He Houhua, vice-chairmen of the CPPCC National Committee, said that the world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. The pandemic has caused a great impact on the global economy and society. These challenges require global responses.

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations stated pointed out that global public finance must pay attention to two key issues. The first point is to focus on the countries and industries that need help most. In the short term, we must pay attention to health, education and social security. In the long run, we must pay attention to sustainable development. The second point is to use private and domestic financing.

Li Xiaohong, the Executive Vice Chairman of IFF, emphasized that finance has played an important role in the face of COVID-19 and the global economic recession. He hopes that IFF will play its role as an international platform for global financial cooperation and communication. Countries around the world can discuss the international financial situation together and propose policies here.

（Photo: Alice)

Included in many other topics, the guests and experts discussed the current monetary and fiscal policies, WTO reforms, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the global carbon pricing mechanism as well as the Nansha International Financial Island for two days.

Guangzhou launches cooperation center to boost international exchanges

 Update:2020-11-30    Source: Newsgd.com

The Guangzhou International Cooperation Center (GICC) was officially launched at the ongoing Guangzhou International Innovation Festival on November 28.

[Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

The center will provide multilateral organizations, international cities, foreign chambers of commerce, enterprises, universities and research institutes services to help them invest, do business or organize technological and cultural exchanges in Guangzhou.

According to the GICC, the center will be dedicated to introducing foreign institutes, enterprises and professionals to Guangzhou while helping Guangzhou institutes and enterprises to go global. It’s another move by the city to build itself as a cosmopolis after having set up the Guangzhou Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation.

In addition, the GICC cooperated with Brinc, a venture capital and accelerator firm, and held the THero 2020 Investor Networking as a key branding event of Guangzhou International Innovation Festival and THero International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition on November 29. The event gathered 15 start-ups from home and abroad as well as representatives from major investment firms such as IDG and Zero Point Capital, which provided young entrepreneurs with face-to-face networking opportunity with investors.

Thus far, the GICC has organized various activities such as business roadshows, academic meetings and business tours to boost international communication and exchanges in Guangzhou. It has been working with more than 10 international institutions including incubators, international city offices in Guangzhou, foreign Chambers of Commerce and educational institutions, and introduced more than 20 projects in such fields as information technology, AI and smart healthcare.

Guangzhou elected as Metropolis president

 Update:2020-12-02    Source: Newsgd.com

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On November 30th, World Association of the Major Metropolises(Metropolis) organized the 13th World Congress online. The Congress was hosted by Guangzhou and was attended by representatives of 141 member cities. At the congress, Guangzhou was newly elected the Metropolis president.

Lin Songtian, President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said at the opening ceremony that the World Metropolis Association proposed the establishment of a "global sanitary city platform" during the epidemic, and made positive contributions to strengthening international anti-epidemic cooperation. He said that the association is expected to cooperate with other cities to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Wen Guohui, Mayor of Guangzhou, said that Guangzhou is willing to work with all member cities of the Metropolis to realize the organization’s strategic plan of 2021 to 2023. Guangzhou will help other cities to achieve the goals sustainable development. He reiterated “Guangzhou’s commitment to cooperation and working together with global cities in terms of anti-pandemic solutions, environmental protection, natural disasters and other challenges we face, to ensure the health and safety of our citizens.”

Metropolis is a global network of major cities and metropolitan areas. Since 1993, Guangzhou has been a Metropolis member. Since 2014, Guangzhou has served as the co-president city. Guangzhou also took a great step forward in boosting its leadership on urban innovation through the launch of the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation in 2012. Every three years, Metropolis organizes a World Congress in order to facilitate face-to-face encounters and fruitful exchanges. After this congress, Guangzhou will perform the duties of the new president.

International Cooperation Center Launched in Guangzhou

 Update:2020-12-03    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

The launching ceremony of the Guangzhou International Cooperation Center (GICC) is held on Nov 28.

The launching ceremony of the Guangzhou International Cooperation Center (GICC) was held on Nov 28, inviting around 60 guests, such as representatives from overseas cities, business associations, education institutes, as well as investment and financing institutions.

GICC is an international communication platformestablished by Guangzhou that aims to deepen exchanges and cooperation with cities around the world in areas spanning economy, trade, science, education, and culture.

Currently, the center has received intended applications from 30 organizations, with 10 organizations from 10 countries and regions settling in the first phase of the Center, including Oxford University Innovation’s China Subsidiary, the China-Britain Business Council, and the liaison office of Fukuoka, Japan in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou's intelligent manufacturing output is 53.5 billion in first three quarters

 Update:2020-12-15    Source: Newsgd.com

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On December 11, Guangzhou held the first meeting for the membership of the Industrial Robot Manufacturing and Application Industry Alliance. The meeting has been held in five session with this being the latest. Huang Xing, the executive vice chairman of the alliance, released sales data for the intelligent manufacturing industry in Guangzhou in 2019 and the first three quarters of 2020. Data shows that the output value of Guangzhou's intelligent equipment and robots in 2019 was nearly 63 billion yuan, an increase of about 11%. The output value of intelligent equipment and robots in Guangzhou in the first three quarters of this year is nearly 53.5 billion yuan.

According to the survey, the total operating income of 68 intelligent manufacturing companies of the alliance in 2019 totaled 43.8 billion yuan, an increase of 11% over 2018.

From the perspective of application industries, in 2019, the Guangzhou market purchased 6,355 robots (including automatic guided vehicles (AGV)). Among them, 1,103 units were purchased through Guangdong, mainly in the automobile manufacturing industry, metal products industry and general equipment manufacturing industry. The market share of domestic robots was 32.5%, an increase of 6% compared with 2018. The market share of domestic robots continues to increase.

It is worth mentioning that although operating income continues to grow, compared with previous years, there are 15 companies whose sales have declined. In the past two years, the market has undergone more obvious changes, and a trend of decline in some markets has appeared.

In the first three quarters of this year, Guangzhou sold a total of 4,165 industrial robot bodies, with total sales of 2.53 billion yuan. These figures show that under the pandemic, the development prospects of the intelligent manufacturing and robotics industry are capable of great improvements.