GBA Brief

Macao: Guangdong launching renminbi bond sale

Guangdong province is to issue its first offshore renminbi local government bonds in the Macao Special Administrative Region in October, making it the first Chinese mainland province to do so. The three-year bonds are estimated to be worth 2.2 billion yuan ($340.8 million).

It'll be another significant move to boost Macao's bond market after the central government issued 2 billion yuan in Treasury bonds in the SAR in 2019. The Macao government said the move will facilitate the internationalization of the renminbi and offer a new option for global investors.

Guangzhou: Nansha school planned for Hong Kong children

A new school will be built in Guangzhou's Nansha district to provide high-quality education to children of Hong Kong people who work and live on the Chinese mainland. It will offer 12-year primary and secondary education under Hong Kong's curriculum setting.

The school is one of Nansha's key projects in its efforts to create a comprehensive living community for Hong Kong people, and aims to attract Hong Kong capital, companies and youth entrepreneurship.

Shenzhen: Cultural industries fair attracts 2 million visitors

The 17th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair was held from Sept 23 to Monday at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center. It attracted more than 3,300 delegations from about 30 countries and regions. About three-quarters of them were on-site exhibitors and more than 2 million visitors participated in the event.

Twenty-two Hong Kong designers and 10 cultural companies from Macao exhibited their products and ideas at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Hall. Kang Fu from the Association for Creative Education, a nonprofit organization in Hong Kong, said the annual fair has helped Hong Kong designers promote their creative works on the Chinese mainland.

Zhuhai: Nation's biggest air show kicks off

Airshow China 2021 — the nation's biggest air show — kicked off in Zhuhai on Tuesday, showcasing a large collection of cutting-edge technologies, services and end products that represent the world's top innovations in the aviation and aerospace industry.

The six-day event, which ends on Sunday, sees a "cloud exhibition" introduced for the first time, where participants can enjoy a virtual tour and watch the aerobatic show simultaneously. About 700 enterprises from 40 countries and regions are exhibiting their latest technologies. There are 11 exhibition halls, compared with only eight last year, with the interior exhibition area covering 10 hectares and the exterior area 36 hectares.

Foshan: Foshan plans to attract major investment deals

As Zhuhai's Hengqin and Shenzhen's Qianhai economic cooperation zones step up development, Foshan will further improve its business domain to cement the city's high-quality social and environmental growth by luring major investment deals.

In the first eight months of this year, Foshan had made total investments of nearly 90 billion yuan ($13.9 billion), accounting for nearly 80 percent of its annual target.

The city had also introduced 242 projects, with each being valued at either over 100 million yuan ($15.5 million) or over $10 million. The total investment was 205 billion yuan in the same period.

Huizhou: Boost for cross-border e-commerce

The Huizhou government has introduced 13 supporting measures to support the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce, providing subsidies of up to 200,000 yuan ($31,000) for each of the qualified enterprises. Five areas in cross-border e-commerce will benefit from the measures, including service platform construction, business entity cultivation, industry cluster development, supply chain supporting industry development, and talent cultivation and cooperation.

Dongguan: First cargo rail link opens with Uzbekistan

The first freight express train from Dongguan to Uzbekistan pulled out of Changping Railway Station on Sept 24. The train, consisting of 50 carriages, is carrying 402 metric tons of cargo, including electronic products, home appliances and office supplies. It will pass through Khorgos, a dry port connecting Kazakhstan and the nation, and arrive in Uzbekistan in 15 days — 20 days fewer than the same trip by sea.

The new rail link will help enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area expand their markets in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Zhongshan: Economy shows moderate year-on-year growth

Zhongshan's economy remained stable in the first eight months of this year, with major economic indicators showing moderate year-on-year growth, according to the Zhongshan Bureau of Statistics.

From January to August, the value added for Zhongshan's industries above designated size (industrial enterprises with main business revenue of $2.57 million or above) rose by 18.7 percent from a year ago. Fixed-asset investments posted an annual growth of 17.6 percent, and total retail sales of consumer goods surged 15 percent annually. For the same period, Zhongshan's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, gained 0.8 percent from the previous year.

The total value of imports and exports in the first eight months of the year reached 166.7 billion yuan ($25.82 billion) — an annual growth of 20.2 percent. Exports expanded 20.6 percent to 136.2 billion yuan, and imports grew 18.4 percent to 30.5 billion yuan. A trade surplus of 105.7 billion yuan was recorded.

Jiangmen: Sci-tech enterprises vie for honors

The 10th China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (Guangdong Jiangmen region) and the 2021 Jiangmen Science and Technology Cup Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition ended on Sunday. Twenty-eight enterprises reached the finals, including 20 projects in the growth category and eight in the startup category. This year, 323 enterprises joined the competition in Jiangmen, ranking among the top three in the number of participants in Guangdong province.

Zhaoqing: 'One-hour living circle' with Gaoming under construction

A new highway linking Zhaoqing with Foshan's Gaoming district is being built to help the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area realize its goal of a "one-hour living circle". Upon completion, the highway will shorten the journey between the urban areas of Zhaoqing and Pearl River Delta International Airport — a planned airport to be located in Gaoming — to 20 minutes.

Construction work on another infrastructure project between Zhaoqing and Foshan — a 41.2-kilometer high-speed railway — will start in December.