Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

AGREEMENTS for a total of 859 projects with investment exceeding 2.24 trillion yuan (US$307.55 billion) were clinched at the 2023 Global Investment Promotion Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), which ended in Guangzhou on Thursday.

The two-day conference drew attendees from Fortune Global 500 companies, professional organizations, and chambers of commerce from over 20 countries and regions.

The 859 projects covered fields such as semiconductors, new energy equipment, electronic products, mechanical products, chemical products, metal processing, food, printing, and biomedicine.

Of them, 26 projects involving an amount of 80.3 billion yuan were signed on site.

Klaus Zenkel, vice president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and chair of its South China Chapter, told reporters that the GBA consolidates various industries and resources, giving it a strong advantage over other bay areas.

“We are extremely motivated by the opportunities in the Greater Bay Area,” said Jean-Christophe Pointeau, president of Pfizer Global Biopharma Business in China.

Jacob Aarup-Andersen, CEO of Carlsberg Group, said the brewery group will continue to invest in the GBA, emphasizing that “it’s such an important growth market.” Carlsberg is currently building a globally state-of-the-art brewery in the city of Foshan in Guangdong.

The conference also held six matchmaking meetings to promote project negotiation and cooperation.

At the conference, Shenzhen held a meeting presenting its foreign investment policies.

“Our policy objective is to provide more benefits for enterprises investing in Shenzhen,” Wang Shuying, an official from the Foreign Investment Promotion Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau, said at the meeting.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the actual utilization of foreign capital in the manufacturing industry of Guangdong Province saw a growth of 19% year on year to reach 36.82 billion yuan from January to August. The actual utilization of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing stood at 17.62 billion yuan, an increase of 39% year on year.