On the morning of February 24, Guangzhou held the 2017 Investment Promotion cum Commercial Work Conference. It is said that Guangzhou had 1,757 new foreign-funded enterprises last year, up 23% year on year, with actual utilization of 5.7 billion USD and up 5.3% year on year. This year, Guangzhou attaches great importance to investment promotion and accelerates the move-in of key investment promotion projects.

 

In terms of domestic trade, in 2016, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 870.65 billion yuan, up 9% year on year; and the wholesale and retailing goods revenue hit 5.59728 trillion yuan, up 10% year on year. The circulation system reform and development comprehensive pilot work and logistics standardization pilot work of domestic trade have made stage achievements, and accumulated experience for repeating use and spread in the aspects of the integration of commerce, tourism and culture, the joint governance of commercial circles, the 3+X public service platform for the transformation and upgrading of professional wholesale market.

 

New motivation for foreign trade has been continuously improved. Last year, Guangzhou’s total foreign trade hit 856.69 billion yuan, up 3.1% year on year, consisting of exports of 518.7 billion yuan, up 3% year on year, imports of 337.99 billion yuan, up 3.3% year on year. All indicators made positive growth, and were higher than those of the national average, the provincial average and the major cities in the country. Guangzhou’s service trade imports and exports reached 37.81 billion USD, up 29.6% year on year. New foreign business mode had outstanding performance. The city’s cross-border E-commerce imports and exports increased 1.2 times, ranking No. 1 among the pilot cities in the country. The exports of tourism-related shopping and goods increased 18.1% year on year. The bonded logistics foreign trade increased 24.5% year on year. The number of the city’s financial leasing company reached 305.

 

Investment promotion is the highlight of Guangzhou’s commercial work. Statistics indicate that Guangzhou had 1,757 new foreign-funded enterprises, up 23% year on year, with actually-utilized foreign funds of 5.5 billion USD, up 5.3% year on year. The city had 137,000 newly-registered enterprises, up 38.9% year on year, with total registered capital of 827.1 billion yuan, up 33.9% year on year.

 

According to the related director of Guangzhou Municipal Commercial Commission, investment promotion is still the key part in the upcoming work. This year, major projects will be the focuses. Efforts will be made in forging high-end investment promotion platforms, speeding up the move-in of key projects. Meanwhile, innovation-driven projects will be highlighted with great efforts in pilot projects, new business modes cultivation and promotion of the change of development momentum.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Feb. 27, 2017