B&R Initiative injects new impetus in Guangzhou development
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 18, 2017
Since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, what has Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province in southern China, done to seize the new opportunities created by the initiative for its further development?
As one of the most developed cities in China, Guangzhou is a traditional business and trade center called "a 1,000-year-old business capital," and one of the first cities to carry out reform and opening-up in China.
Guangzhou has striven to upgrade its industries, business environment and infrastructure to best combine its traditional advantages with new opportunities created by the Belt and Road Initiative.
New industries
As a vanguard of reform and opening-up for decades, Guangzhou has taken the lead in promoting the construction of the Belt and Road, which is short for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road designed to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond.
In recent years, Guangzhou has striven to shift its economic focus to capital- and technology-intensive industries, as enterprises here have sped up the pace to "go global."
For example, UC Mobile Co. Ltd. (UCWeb), which is attached to China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has stood out as a global provider of mobile Internet software technology and services, especially in India, Indonesia and Russia. "Our operations are deeply localized, which means we have kept an eye on local cultures and customs. We have provided down-to-earth services," said Huang Hao, president of Alibaba's mobile business group.
Meanwhile, the 2017 THero International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition organized by Guangzhou's Tianhe district government is underway, with sub-contests in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Israel, and the United States, which would help the winning foreign high-tech companies solicit investment and do business in Guangzhou. "The international competition is also a publicity of China's mass entrepreneurship and innovation to countries along the Belt and Road," said Lin Daoping, secretary of Tianhe District Committee of the Communist Party of China.
New platforms
Guangzhou has also exploited new platforms to promote trade and cooperation, besides its traditional ones such as the Canton Fair, a leading platform linking overseas and Chinese traders held biannually since 1957.
The 121st Canton Fair, or China Import-Export Fair, took place from April 16 to May 5 in Guangzhou, attracting 364 companies from countries and regions along the Belt and Road, according to the organizer.
Two years ago, Nansha District in southeast Guangzhou became one of the pilot free trade zones (FTZs) to promote foreign trade and investment.
By 2016, the import and export volume of the Nansha FTZ reached nearly 170 billion yuan (24.66 billion U.S. dollars), one fifth of the total volume of Guangzhou.
In a bid to provide better services, Guangzhou has also set up a number of administrative service centers to simplify paperwork for doing business in the city. Pazhou Administrative Service Branch Center, opened in March 2016, is one of them.
Pazhou, a historical place with an ancient port linking the Maritime Silk Road 200 years ago, is currently housing the Canton Fair. "The center is a window to display the city's policy, economy, culture, arts and investment environment," said Jiang Wei, head of the Pazhou center.
New partners
"In recent years, with the development of the economy ... we have shared our development experience with cities along the Belt and Road," said Chen Jie, director of the Asian, African and Oceanian Affairs Division of Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office. "Last year, a special team was established to deal with affairs of Asia, Africa and Oceania, to facilitate cooperation between Guangzhou and cities along the Belt and Road," Chen said.
Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, Guangzhou has redoubled its efforts to expand its network of friends. In 2013, Guangzhou established friendly ties of various levels with Rabat of Morocco, Phnom Penh of Cambodia, Incheon of South Korea, Binh Duong of Vietnam, Prague of the Czech Republic. In 2014, Ahmedabad of India, Pokhara of Nepal, Lodz of Poland and Tbilisi of Georgia established friendly ties with Guangzhou.
In 2015, cities in Oceania and Africa, such as Suva of Fiji, Kinshasa of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Victoria of the Seychelles and Mombasa of Kenya established friendly ties with Guangzhou. For now, Guangzhou, in which 57 countries have established consulates, is looking for friends in the Middle East and West Africa. "The Belt and Road Initiative has injected new impetus in the economic and trade exchanges between Guangzhou and foreign cities," said Luo Zheng, director of the Comprehensive Division of the Commission of Commerce of the Guangzhou government.
Upgrading traffic hubs
Guangzhou, a key point linking China with the countries and regions along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, has stepped up efforts to upgrade its transport capacity to better link the countries and regions by air, sea and land.
China Southern Airlines, based in Guangzhou, is a leading air carrier in China with a fleet of more than 700 passenger and cargo aircraft, ranking No.1 in Asia and No. 4 in the world, according to Qu Guangji, deputy director general & SVP of the network and revenue management division, the commercial steering committee, of the airline.
As of April 2017, China Southern Airlines reached destinations in 68 cities of 38 countries and regions along the Belt and Road, getting the lion's share of the market in these areas among Chinese airlines, Qu told Xinhua recently at a symposium, adding the company also plans to open new flights from Guangzhou to destinations along the Belt and Road, such as Johannesburg, Tehran and Islamabad.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, with an ambition to become an advanced world-class air transport hub, has opened flights to 87 international destinations, including 52 in 27 countries and regions along the Belt and Road, according to data provided by the airport.
In August, 2016, Guangzhou launched its first weekly cargo train to Europe as a new way to import and export goods. Meanwhile, by collecting goods by train form Chinese inland and then transferring them by sea, Guangzhou has also become a major port shipping goods to international destinations.
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