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.