Investments empower district's economic growth, prosperity

At the ongoing fourth China International Import Expo held in Shanghai, Nansha district of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, will hopefully reap a batch of projects covering fields such as foreign trade, logistics and healthcare.

Among them, Shanghai-based plastic supplier Bolu Trade plans to build a distribution center of polymer pellets in the district.

Meanwhile, the Nansha commerce bureau will team up with Guangzhou Junheliwan Health-tech to create a comprehensive platform featuring medical device production, medical care and research.

Nansha district has seen a boom in investment this year, with a great number of projects and companies signed, launched or becoming operational, according to the local government.

From January to September, Nansha attracted 20 projects from Fortune Global 500 companies, bringing the total number of such projects to 217.

During the same period, 56,000 enterprises were launched in the district with the registered capital hitting 180 billion yuan ($28.15 billion).

Local officials said these projects, from high-end to advanced industries, are vital to Nansha's industrial transformation and will become new drivers of its high-quality economic growth.

Nansha district is striving to nurture a new energy vehicles industry worth 100 billion yuan as a growing number of carmakers established their offices in the district.

Sino-Japanese joint venture GACToyota Motor, for example, saw the first phase of its expansion project put into operation in late July, which is expected to manufacture 100,000 vehicles annually.

The domestic all-electric car brand Hycan signed up for a production base in Nansha in June, while the new factory of Japanese auto parts supplier Denso became operational in July.

In terms of artificial intelligence, the district is home to more than 300 AI companies so far, including tech startup Cloudwalk and domestic driverless car manufacturer Pony.ai which has a value of $5.3 billion.

Local authorities have reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese AI giant Huawei to jointly construct an AI innovation center and promote the transformation of AI research.

The biomedicine, logistics and modern agriculture industries also maintain strong growth momentum as major projects are going smoothly. The Mingzhu Modern Agriculture Park just completed its first-stage of construction in September, and shipping service enterprise Seacon Shipping has gained approval for its South China headquarters in Nansha.

The district has become an attractive destination for investors and talents since the local government is committed to improving the business environment, said local officials.

zhanglinwan@chinadaily.com.cn