SFC Markets and Finance｜Foreign businesses show confidence for Guangdong's high-quality development

南方财经全媒体记者谢鸿州 深圳报道

Grand conference in Guangdong shows commitment to high-quality development

China’s Guangdong Province has just wrapped up its Provincial High-quality Development Conference in Shenzhen. It's the second year for Guangdong to host such a grand convention to rally the whole province's strength around the goals of high-quality development. On Guangdong’s high-quality growth path, foreign enterprises have an important part to play. On this episode, we have invited representatives from foreign businesses to share their views.

How do foreign investors understand high-quality development and what opportunities does it provide? We’ll hear it from Klaus Zenkel, Vice President of EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

High-quality development underscores quality, not speed

Klaus Zenkel: Guangdong has always had a very good business-friendly environment. And the term “high-quality development” considers to underscore the quality of the economy growth, not the speed and not the pace. So this is what Guangdong is following basically. And it also includes the digital transformation, and continue to advance high-quality development of the key manufacturing industries, and also improve a safety of industrial supply chains.

We see that the prospects for cooperation between Guangdong and Europe are quite extensive. And there's a wide range of fields from manufacturing to innovation, and also from physical to digital. We believe that these domains of the new manufacturing, new technologies, new infrastructure and new life styles. Both parties will find many opportunities for collaboration.

So that is why Guangdong is always international. And they are not only focusing on the domestic development. So when they say high-quality development, they certainly include the foreign investors, and may they come from Europe, or from the United States, or from other parts of the world. 

EU enterprises setting up innovation hubs in Guangdong

Klaus Zenkel: The EU enterprises are also setting up R&D centers and innovation hubs in the Guangdong province, especially in Shenzhen. They're doing R&D work not only to add on to their global portfolio, but they would basically develop new products entirely here in the South China facilities and go global with it. Maybe we talk about Shenzhen. That city has built a lot of incubators and business hubs for the convenience of start-ups, and also for future investors.

The launching of the GBA has led to a change in the region here. So then we can see there's plenty of opportunities. When we witness that a growing number of European companies embarking on business projects, reflecting immense potentials across the various sectors for collaboration.

And according to the Chamber’s Business Confidence Survey, which was released last year, we saw that 77% of the companies express their intention to expand their business here in South China, and 97% confirmed the commitment to continue investing in this region. 44% surveyed companies hold an optimistic outlook of the development prospects in the Greater Bay Area. So this demonstrates the confidence in the future cooperation between the two sides. 

How Guangdong’s innovation capability attracts foreign investors?

As the vanguard of China’s reform and opening-up, Guangdong has witnessed a change of development pattern that places more focus on the integrated development of industries and technologies, and the coordinated urban and rural development. What does it mean for global businesses in the Greater Bay Area? And how do foreign enterprises view the potentials of different cities within the region? Fabien Pacory, Vice President of CCI France Chine, shares his insights.

The GBA is a fully integrated innovation hub

Fabien Pacory: We know that the Greater Bay Area those days, it's a stunning start-up ecosystem and demonstrated remarkable resilience. The innovation level of the GBA is remarkable and French company nowadays are very satisfied about their situation into the Guangdong Province and about the level of business development.

The GBA is positioned as a strategic international innovation hub. The Greater Bay Area is a very well-engineered platform. It has seen the strategic trends in science and technology. So first, the GBA is a driving force for high-quality development and a major strategy for regional coordinated development. So for sure, this high-quality development puts the GBA as a developing national high-level platform of reform and opening-up. So it's becoming the national benchmark for transformation but also concerning sustainable development goals for the United Nations, and concerning new generation of supply chain management. It's a fully integrated innovation hub.

Guangdong Province and the GBA is now a distinct identity card for the Chinese development model. I believe that it's an international scientific and technological innovation center. This can't be ignored. Guangdong and this GBA platform can now inspire many other regions or mega cities or mega clusters around the world. 

Now the GBA is the home of many innovative companies. Many future potentials may exceed our imagination. It's very good for foreign companies and French companies, because Guangdong has been able to promote the construction of new major scientific facilities and key national laboratories. So this platform also provides a very suitable environment for talent development and R&D.

Guangdong cities are like constellation of different knowledge

Fabien Pacory: The GBA is 11 cities, so it's 9 cities in Guangdong Province and also more cities around the GBA which are part of Guangdong Province but not in the GBA. So we have those nine interesting cities and those cities are like a constellation of different knowledge.

We have cities like Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou and also Zhaoqing. These are very interesting cities because of different clusters, different technologies, different specializations and different specificities. Those cities are very interesting because they developed different know-how. It's a very complementary aspect of the GBA concerning AI or concerning amazing development. When you see what Foshan is developing nowadays into advanced mechanism, advanced technologies and AI, it's great.

More foreign enterprises setting up R&D centers in the GBA

Attracted by the growing innovation capability in the region, more and more global leading enterprises are setting up their R&D centers and innovation hubs in the GBA, notably Apple, ExxonMobil, Philips and Siemens. From the food and beverage industry, Carlsberg, for example, will launch its first R&D center outside Europe in the city of Foshan. Why do these foreign companies shift their business in the region from pure manufacturing to R&D? What potentials do they see in here? We talked to Lee Chee Kong, President of Carlsberg China. Let’s hear his views.

The GBA has a high-quality business environment

Lee Chee Kong: The Greater Bay Area has a high-quality business environment, a prosperous economy, strong consumption power and demographic advantages. It is one of the most developed regions in China and even the world. Therefore, we are very optimistic about the development of the beer market in the Greater Bay Area. In the future, as our new Foshan brewery begins operation, we will also accelerate the layout of the production and sales network in the Greater Bay Area to meet the diversified needs of consumers and their pursuit of high-quality life.

Carlsberg will also set up its first R&D center outside Europe at the Foshan brewery to provide new product development, packaging material design and testing services for the Chinese and Asian markets. 

Starting from Foshan and the Greater Bay Area, we can reach other markets in southern China with the help of its advantages in location and transportation. The Foshan Beverage and Food Industrial Park in Sanshui has well-equipped infrastructure and complete industrial chains. From initial engagement to signing and construction, Guangdong Province, Foshan City, and Sanshui District have provided us with efficient and professional services. The excellent business environment in Foshan and Guangdong has strengthened our confidence in continuing investment.

The business environment in Guangdong will be further enhanced

Lee Chee Kong: The reform and opening-up has put China onto the fast track, unleashing a vast consumer market, the rise of the middle class, and a growing demand for high-quality products. We are pleased to see that since 2023, Guangdong Province has introduced a series of policy measures, including the three-year action plan for building an internationally first-class business environment in the GBA and the "17 Measures for Foreign Investment" aimed at promoting the increase, stability and quality of foreign investment in the manufacturing sector. We believe that as these policy measures gradually become active and positive effects are further released, the business environment in Guangdong will be further enhanced, solidifying its position as one of the world's best investment destinations.

策划：于晓娜    

监制：施诗

责任编辑：李依农

记者：谢鸿州 

制作：蔡于恬 李群

新媒体统筹：丁青云 曾婷芳 赖禧 黄达迅

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪 

海外运营编辑：庄欢 吴婉婕 龙李华 张伟韬

出品：南方财经全媒体集团