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.

Nansha selected as demo zone on import promotion

 Update:2020-11-06    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou's Nansha district has been selected as one of 10 import trade promotion and innovation demonstration zones, authorities announced ahead of the opening of the third China International Import Expo on Nov 4.

From January to September, the total import and export value in Nansha reached 175.04 billion yuan ($26.32 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.1 percent, ranking first in Guangzhou in terms of growth rate.

With such a good development momentum, Nansha will undertake the task of promoting trade and facilitating innovation in trade, the two major functions Nansha and other demonstration zones are required to have, according to Li Xingqian, director of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce.

Guangzhou's Nansha district has been selected as one of 10 import trade promotion and innovation demonstration zones.

Trade promotion will facilitate import, industries, and consumption while trade innovation will focus on the aspects of policies, related services, and models.

In the next three to five years, China will cultivate a number of import demonstration zones with innovative regulatory systems, complete service functions, and flexible transaction models, to steadily expand China's import scale and optimize its import structure.

In addition to Guangdong, the zones will be set up in Shanghai, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Sichuan and Shaanxi. They will cover the eastern, central and western regions as well as the old industrial bases of Northeast China, and include sea, land and air ports, reflecting the power and potential of China's import development.

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

Photo provided to Newsgd

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.