At the CPC Guangdong Committee’s Economic Work Conference held recently, it is required to comprehensively improve the development level of open-up economy and forge Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone(Guangdong FTZ) into a “high-level, open-up portal hub”.

Last year, Guangdong FTZ steadily proceeded the work and obtained stage achievements. From January to November, 2016, Guangdong FTZ saw the establishment of 70,600 new enterprises, up 42.9% year on year, including 66,500 domestic ones with total registered capital of 2.8793 trillion yuan, up 41.1% and 52.1% respectively, year on year, and 4,070 foreign-funded ones with contracted foreign funds of 366.1 billion yuan, up 77.3% and 172.58% respectively, year on year.

Driving infrastructure construction to change FTZ environment greatly  

According to the requirement of building “the future city of Guangzhou”, Nansha Free Trade Zone (Nansha FTZ) has accelerated the construction of Mingzhu Bay Startup Zone with an ongoing building area of 1.46 million sqm, a completed area of 7.4 million sqm in Jiaomenhe Central Area and a complete Jinzhou Headquarters Economic Clustering Zone in general, and driven the construction of 84 major traffic infrastructural projects with total investment of 200.6 billion yuan, such as the completion of 84% of the civil work for the Subway Line 4 Southward Extension Project, the incorporation of Subway Lines 18 and 22 into the general planning, the completion of 154km-long express ways and highways, the completion of the foundation for the main tower of Humen No. 2 Bridge, the smooth progress of Huanglan Artery, Guangzhou-Zhongshan-Jiangmen Express Way and other ongoing projects, and the completion of the full line of Fenghuang Bridges 1, 2, 3 and Fenghuang Avenue.

The former Shekou FTZ has continuously carried out the Campaign and Ten Battles for the construction of FTZ New Town to boost the 88 ongoing projects, including the completion and handover of 89 buildings with a building area of 1.22 million sqm, the completion and handover of a group of major projects like Zhuoyue Financial Center, Xiangjiang Financial Mansion and Qianhaigang Innovation Business Center. Taiziwan Liner Port was put into operation on November 12 last year. And major breakthroughs were made in solving bottlenecks, such as the height limit for aviation reason, the removal of Pingnan Railway and the preparation of land, for the zone’s development.

At Hengqin FTZ, a group of projects has been completed and put into operation, such as the Haiyi Bridge, Haiwu Bridge, Haiyun Bridge and Haibei Bridge in Shizimen CBD, the land filling work in the southern and northern parts of Hengqin New Area Central Dyke, and the levee and landscape projects of Huandao West Levee; the Wutongshu Building, Huarong Building and other property projects have been successively completed; and some projects are smoothly progressing, such as Hengqin Port Traffic and Comprehensive Traffic Hub Projects, the flood prevention and landscape projects in the southern parts of Central Dyke, the 2^nd-phase project of the non-demonstration section of municipal infrastructures, Hengqin international commercial service base and supportive facilities, Huafa Square, Zhongjiao Financial Investment Mansion and etc.

Fortune 500 corporations invest in FTZs and establish nearly 200 enterprises

Today, more and more emerging trade modes are prospering in Guangdong FTZ. In terms of cross-border E-commerce, it has accelerated the construction of a cross-border E-commerce comprehensive pilot zone and Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border E-commerce quality safety demonstration zone, formulated cross-border E-commerce development plan, developed direct import business mode, and attracted the settlement of large E-commerce enterprises including jd.com, jumei.com, suning.com, vip.com, dangdang.com and tmall.com in succession. In terms of financial leasing, it took the lead in the pilot unified management of financial leasing for domestic and foreign funds in the province and completed the first cross-border airplane assets package transaction in the zone.

With the continuous implementation of a series of reform and innovation system, more and more multinationals, central enterprises, large-scale private enterprises have established their global, regional or overseas headquarters in the FTZs. Nansha FTZ has ushered in a group of leading projects, such as headquarters of COSCO Shipping Bulk Co., Ltd., regional and international business headquarters of China Communications Construction Company Limited, CRCC Southern Headquarters, headquarters of China Railway Tunnel Stock Co.,Ltd. and China Railway Tunnel Shield Machine. The former Shekou FTZ has introduced a number of companies including COFCO Asia-Pacific Headquarters, China State-owned Capital Venture Investment Fund, HSBC Southern Headquarters, BEA China Headquarters, Chow Tai Fook China Headquarters, AVIVA-COFCO, New World Development Company Limited China Headquarters, and Skyworth International Headquarters etc. Hengqin FTZ has attracted the companies including Poly Group Overseas Headquarters, HNA Basic Industry Headquarters, CITIC South China Headquarters, Everbright South China Headquarters, and Gushengtang TCM Headquarters etc. By November last year, Fortune 500 corporations had invested in these FTZs and established nearly 200 enterprises. And 650 projects have the registered capital of more than 1 billion yuan.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Jan. 16, 2017