Guangdong starts "one integrated license" pilot reform for business registration

 Update:2021-06-10    Source: Newsgd.com

On June 7, Guangdong issued a plan to implement the "one integrated license" pilot for facilitating business approval services of enterprises. It is to integrate the previously required multiple licenses into one, so applicants can acquire different approvals and permits in only one license application.

(Photo / Nanfang Daily)

According to the plan, 14 permitting items including food business license, drug business license, establishment of entertainment venues approval will be piloted in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan and Zhongshan and will last till the end of December, 2021.

The above pilot cities will also complete another 16 reform items by the end of June, 2022. The "one integrated license" is hoped to cover more business approval items in Guangdong by 2023.

Also, the plan encourages an increase in connectivity with Hong Kong and Macao. Aiming to improve the business registration and administrative approval systems of different cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it will promote the sharing of registration information and recognition of qualifications among enterprises in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

By the cooperation with service institutions in Hong Kong and Macao, Hong Kong or Macao-funded companies will be able to set up offshore companies in Guangdong.

In terms of the reform in business registration system, it will be expanded to the whole Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone this year. And it will further cover nine cities in the Pearl River Delta region in the future when it is approved by the country.

GBA goes in the right direction: Martin Fleischer, Consul General of Germany in Guangzhou

 Update:2021-06-16    Source: Newsgd.com

"There are many things I like about Guangzhou and Guangdong," Martin Fleischer, Consul General of Germany in Guangzhou, said he loves the pleasant weather, delicious food and diversity in Guangdong. "But what impresses me most are the people, they can be pretty relaxed and can be pretty cool, and that's admirable."

Martin Fleischer has served as the Consul General of Germany in Guangzhou for about four years since August 2017. During his spare time, Mr. Fleischer likes playing music including jazz, classical baroque music as well as rock and roll. He performs at the JZ Club in Guangzhou's Party Pier once every month.

Seaside and beach, impressive mountains, Lingnan architecture... the German CG also feels admiration for the province's diversity, suggesting that "You need a bit of patience to discover, because Guangdong has many hidden jewels that you really have to go and to explore."

Over the past several years, Martin Fleischer has visited many cities in Guangdong, including Maoming, Zhanjiang and Meizhou, not to mention those cities in the Pearl River Delta region.

"Guangdong is the largest and economically strongest province in China. Almost one third of China's imports and exports go through Guangdong Province, and that's very important for Germany," Martin Fleischer pointed out, "Guangdong has a pretty good business and investment climate, and German companies like to invest in the province."

He took German chemical giant BASF's new project, the largest-ever investment project in Guangdong, as an example. BASF officially launched its smart Verbund project in the city of Zhanjiang, with investment estimated to reach up to 10 billion U.S. dollars upon completion. The project will initially include plants to produce engineering plastics and TPU serving a range of key industries. As the first wholly foreign-funded project in China's heavy chemical industry, the Verbund project, with the first-stage units expected to come on stream in 2022, is a demonstration of the chemical behemoth's ambition to expand further into China, the world's largest market for chemical products.

According to the CG, there are currently about 600 German companies in Guangdong, and the province with Germany can establish cooperation in petrochemical industry, autonomous driving, and environmental and climate technology.

The CG also holds that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is heading in the right direction since it aims at creating a unified economic space with nine Guangdong cities, Hong Kong and Macao SARs. He believes that there is a huge potential of cooperation between the GBA and Germany as Guangdong enjoys a good business and investment climate while Hong Kong highlights great, favorable advantages in terms of financial and judicial system.

Martin Fleischer expects more and more German enterprises and German people to settle down in the GBA in the future. "I think that the Greater Bay Area should be a pioneer in a more open international communication."

Guangzhou's Huangpu to boost hydrogen industry

 Update:2021-06-18    Source: Newsgd.com

Guangzhou's Huangpu District, Guangzhou Development District launched a series of incentives to support its hydrogen industry on June 15. The district offers key enterprises incentives as high as 100 million yuan for settling in the district and 2.5 million yuan for hydrogen refueling station construction.

Guangzhou launched 10 major incentive policies in August 2019, leading the country to support the development of the hydrogen industry. Thus far, the city has issued more subsidy of more than 12 million yuan and successfully attracted related professionals, technologies and key projects.

The upgraded version of incentive policies will reward those key component projects which have national incentives with more than 500 million yuan fixed investment. The incentives go up to 15 percent of the fixed investment. As for the projects with more than 50 million yuan fixed investment, the new polices have canceled the previous project classification and present incentives as high as 10 percent of the project's fixed investment.

In addition, the new policies support enterprises in production space with a standard of 10 yuan per square meter per month. Each enterprise could receive as high as 1 million yuan subsidy each year. As for rental production and office space, the district offers as high as 1 million yuan annual rental subsidy for the first 3 years.

The policies also offer hydrogen industrial park a one-time award of 250 thousand yuan and an annual operational subsidy of 1 million yuan for the first 3 years. The district will also provide a 50-thousand-yuan award for successfully attracting a related company to settle in the industrial park.

Development district sees strong progress in construction, investment

 Update:2021-06-22    Source: Chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou Science City is a modern science park in Guangzhou Development District. CHINA DAILY

Guangzhou Development District has made strong progress in constructing 500 megaprojects in 10 major industries this year, despite the lingering slowdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gu Xiaobin, chief economist of GDD, said the district will complete investment valued at 129.1 billion yuan ($19.97 billion) for the projects this year.

"Construction of the 500 megaprojects that cost more than 1.23 trillion yuan was aimed at building GDD into a major production base of innovation as well as new and high-tech industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the years to come," Gu said at a news conference on Friday.

To promote and speed up construction of the megaprojects, GDD has organized nine rounds of group contract signing and construction commencement ceremonies for the megaprojects since late 2019.

The megaprojects are expected to play a big part in accelerating economic growth in GDD and the entire city in the following years, Gu said.

GDD deems the megaprojects a present for celebrating the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China on July 1, he said.

Of the projects, 29 reach an investment scale of more than 10 billion yuan each and 166 have an investment scale of more than 1 billion yuan each, Gu said.

Located in the eastern part of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, GDD in the prosperous Pearl River Delta is now home to a myriad of well-known foreign and domestic companies involved in the industries, which include artificial intelligence, biomedicine, chips, information, 5G, smart manufacturing, big data, new energy, new materials, culture, education, tourism and related cutting-edge technologies.

With more than 3,000 biomedicine companies, GDD has become a new innovation and production base of Guangdong province's biomedicine industry. The district's industrial production scale in the biomedicine industry is expected to reach more than 100 billion yuan in the coming years.

Earlier this year, biotech company BeiGene kicked off construction on its fourth plant in GDD, playing a role in helping build the district into one of the largest production bases for anti-cancer drugs in Asia.

With the completion of its fourth plant, BeiGene's anti-cancer production capacity will come to more than 120,000 liters, with its maximum capacity reaching 200,000 liters.

That expanded capacity will make it one of the largest anti-cancer drug production bases in Asia.

Construction of the megaprojects have further spurred the industrial development of GDD in the previous years.

According to Gu, those manufacturing enterprises each with annual business revenue surpassing 20 million yuan in the district realized total industrial output of more than 800 billion yuan and GDD posted a commodity sales volume of more than 970 billion yuan last year.

Yang Yuanshi, director of the district's reform and development bureau, said the GDD's GDP grew 20.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021, which is faster than the average growth of the country, Guangdong province and Guangzhou city.

GDD's total finance and taxation revenue increased by 31 percent year-on-year and the profit of enterprises grew by 88.7 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2021.

And it is expected to keep its strong momentum in the following months, he said.

According to Chen Weiquan, director of the district's bureau of science and technology, the bureau will try to build GDD into a destination with a powerful strategic science and technology force, dynamic industrial technology innovation system and attractive innovation ecological environment in the coming years. He promised to better serve the scientific and technological companies that settle down in GDD.

Xu Dan, director of the district's bureau of industry and information, said the bureau will provide space element support for high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in GDD through new land planning, developing new industries and accelerating reconstruction and upgrade in the coming months.

When all the megaprojects have been completed and production starts, they are expected to earn revenues of more than 1 trillion yuan in the future, driving the district's industrial production and sales volume of commodities to exceed 1 trillion yuan respectively.

Meanwhile, construction of the megaprojects also helped drive fixed asset investment to grow 18.2 percent year-on-year in 2020 and 61 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2021.

To further promote the development of new and high-tech and innovative technologies, GDD is sparing no effort to attract high-quality talents from home and abroad.

Famous scientists and academicians, including Zhong Nanshan, Zhang Boli and Shi Yigong, have set up their labs, research institutes and companies to begin their research and production in GDD, Gu said.

The district is also speeding up its education industrial development by attracting renowned colleges and universities from home and abroad to build their campuses.

Having attracted renowned domestic and foreign schools to settle down in the district, the district has now increased its enrollment by more than 63,000 students.

And the research institutes of Central University of Finance and Economics, Xidian University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies have also begun recruiting new students.

GDD is also accelerating the preparation and construction of Huangpu University and Guangzhou Jiaotong University to further integrate the development of industrial development and scientific research with higher education.

To achieve the goal, the district is also speeding up construction of infrastructural facilities to further improve the district's living and working environment.

In addition to advanced highway networks that link the district to ports, railway stations and airports in the southern Chinese region, GDD is accelerating construction of the eastern extension line of the district's rail transit line 5 and the second phase of the district's rail transit line 7 as well as other major communication projects and facilities.

The district's mileage of rail transit will be increased from 66.6 kilometers to 149.6 km, an increase of 124.6 percent, when the two rail transit projects are completed.

Construction of a branch of Nanfang Hospital, a major hospital in Guangzhou, and the Affiliated Women and Children's Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, is now nearly completed and they will increase inpatient beds more than 50 percent.

Meanwhile, the district has planned to construct more than 46.5 km of greenways while building a number of ecological civilization demonstration zones, civilization villages and modern agricultural parks, through reconstruction of its old downtown areas in the following years.

The improved public facilities have helped transform the district from an industrial development zone into one of the major destinations suitable for business startups, innovation, living and working in the southern Chinese region.

GDD now has a permanent population of more than 1.26 million, an increase of 430,000, or 52 percent, when compared to the figure recorded a decade ago.

The proportion of the population with at least a university education level has doubled.

GBA partakes in China-Europe Land-Sea Express with shorter transport times

 Update:2021-08-08    Source: Newsgd.com

Initiated in 2014 by China and three Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), the "China-Europe Land-Sea Express" is now in good shape as trade volumes continue to pick up. Since February, the construction of a customs information center and a focal point for customs clearance coordination has been well underway, in which Shenzhen, one of the core cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, takes a leading role.

(Photo / Nanfang Daily)

The "China-Europe Land-Sea Express" (hereinafter referred to as "the Express") stretches from Greek Piraeus Port in the south to Budapest, Hungary in the north, passing through North Macedonia and Serbia.

It is considered a "third trade route" besides the traditional maritime route and China-Europe Railway Express.The express line enables faster logistics for goods from the Far East and Central Europe, cutting 7 - 10 days on import and export compared with traditional maritime transportation.

In the China-CEEC summit last February, China advocated the construction of a customs information center and a focal point for customs clearance coordination for countries along the Express, and proposed "Smart Customs, Smart Borders and Smart Connectivity" on a pilot basis.

A month later, the focal point for customs clearance coordination was officially set up in Shenzhen, bringing the Greater Bay Area into the picture. Shenzhen swiftly established necessary communication and consultation channels and has ever since been dedicated to constructing "Smart Customs" with the application of cutting-edge tech like 5G, blockchain and the IoT.

The following April, right after a meeting with several European countries along the Express, Shenzhen put into effect 16 measures to forge a closer bond with CEEC including a counterpart cooperation between Shenzhen Yantian Port with Greek Piraeus Port and expanding the scope of Smart and Secure Trade Lanes (SSTL). This marks a huge progress in building "Smart Borders".

The blueprint, in fact, covers more than CEEC. By pushing pilot programs in Israel as well as improving information sharing and bonded area management with Hong Kong, Shenzhen customs has been reinforcing trade between the Greater Bay Area and the outside world.

200th China-Europe freight train in 2021 departs from Greater Bay Area

 Update:2021-08-09    Source: Newsgd.com

Bound for Duisburg, Germany, the 200th China-Europe freight train moved off from Dongguan, Guangdong on August 4th, and was due to arrive in 16 days. By virtue of the China-Europe railway express, land-based trade with Europe has become much safer and easier for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

(Photo / Nanfang Daily)

So far this year, the number of China-Europe freight trains has jumped 83.4% to a new high, with 15 destinations added, including Kazakhstan, Moscow in Russia, Budapest in Hungary, Duisburg and Hamburg in Germany, Malaszewicze in Poland, and Vilnius in Lithuania. A total of 10079 TEUs goods have been shipped through the railway, weighing 107.6 thousand tons.

"We choose China-Europe railway express mainly because of its punctuality and security," said Deng Huaping, manager of Hua Wei Logistics, Dongguan. While the ocean shipping may take around 45 days, the railway is going to cut the time by 30 days.

That simply explains why it is so welcome along the way to Europe. The name has already been made for its convenience, low cost, and during the pandemic, little contact.

"By the end of July, there is on average one departure each day, which is a huge breakthrough," said Qiu Jiasheng, official in charge in the Guangzhou Logistics Center. As the railway gathers momentum, the total number of this year is, in all probability going beyond previous estimate, increasing at least 30% compared with year 2020.

Now in the face of a new pandemic wave, tightened control of the railway is also ensuring stable operation and calming nerves of people with concerns.

25-year-old development agenda takes Guangzhou global

 Update:2021-08-16    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

Guangzhou's achievements in sustainable development have been highly recognized by the international community since the city formulated its21st Century Agenda25 years ago with sustainable development as its major goal.

In March this year, the southern Chinese city submitted a voluntary local review on sustainable development to the United Nations, and the UN invited the mayor of Guangzhou to attend the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July.

As one of the Chinese cities implementing sustainable development into city planning, Guangzhou attached great importance to water treatment and the construction of a green belt when drawing up its blueprint for its city planning in 2020.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), the city designated a new water source protection area of 246 square kilometers, treated more than 120,000 polluted waterways, expanded 32 sewage treatment plants, and built a sewage pipe network of 18,900 km.

Moreover, the Guangdong province's capital city is willing to share its experience of sustainable development with cities worldwide and has been devoted to promoting international cooperation in relevant fields.

It is the first city in China to join the World Association of Major Metropolises, one of the most influential organizations contributing to communication and cooperation between cities around the world.

As the co-chair city of United Cities and Local Governments, Guangzhou set up the International Award for Urban Innovation in 2011 to encourage cities to innovate governance.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Guangzhou attended many online forums on COVID-19 containment to share its experience in COVID-19 prevention and control with other cities around the world.

The voluntary local review of Guangzhou summarizes Guangzhou's development experience over the past a few decades, showing the positive attitude of a Chinese city towards international cooperation in sustainable development, said You Jianhua, an expert from the United Nations Center for Human Settlements.

Guangzhou's action will encourage local governments all over the world to join the campaign of promoting sustainable development, according to Wing Thye Woo, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis.

Donghu Park in Yuexiu district showcases green development in Guangzhou. [Photo/Southern Metropolis Daily