The geographical location of the Pearl River and the South China Sea breeds a diverse and inclusive Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and also shapes Guangzhou Nansha’s culture of opening up and embracing the future. Guangzhou Nansha, as the “heart of the Greater Bay Area”, is accelerating its construction to become a popular destination and the best place to start investing in the Greater Bay Area domestically and abroad.
On April 19, the “National Development and Reform Commission and US Multinational Enterprises Roundtable Meeting of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area station” was held in Nansha, Guangzhou, which is the first display of such series of activities in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Dozens of representatives from top multinational enterprises in different fields around the world, such as Honeywell, Boeing, Intel, IBM, 3M, Ford, Qualcomm, Procter & Gamble, and Energy Transfer LP attended the conference. These representatives began a close exchange during the two-day series of events, which included the annual investment conference, roundtable, sofa forum, field research, and other events. This fully illustrated Nansha’s sincerity and enthusiasm in welcoming foreign corporations to share its opening up and development opportunities.
Executives of international corporations in China have repeatedly stated in interviews that they are the witnesses of Nansha’s development, the authors of its story, and the beneficiaries of its success. “The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a crucial hub for our business in China” “Nansha is a strong engine for the Greater Bay Area” “We are optimistic about China, the Greater Bay Area, and the development prospects of Nansha” …… Nansha, located in the geographical center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is giving off infinite vitality and attraction. With the ambition of creating a “window to the world”, Nansha is building a fertile ground for multinational enterprises to develop.
(Subheading) Nansha’s Fertile Ground: Multi-dimensional Innovation to Empower High-quality Enterprise Development
The Greater Bay Area has an exciting future, while Nansha has a golden opportunity. In recent years, Nansha has stepped up its efforts to draw in investment. Last year, Nansha signed 227 new projects, with a total investment of nearly RMB 400 billion, and introduced 241 projects from Fortune 500 companies, while the actual utilization of foreign investment increased by 72.78 percent. On April 18 of this year, 91 key projects were signed on the spot in the Nansha special event of the 9th China Guangzhou International Investment Annual Conference, involving a total investment of over 200 billion yuan.
Considering the favorable timing, geographic advantages, and outstanding talents, Nansha is ushering into the perfect period of investment and business. The tide of development and opening up sweeps throughout everywhere, and the investment is flourishing as high-quality projects are speeding to gather in Nansha. More than 240 of the world’s top 500 companies, such as Toyota, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, BASF, as well as SABIC, were invested or settled in Nansha.
Zhong Li, President of the Asia Pacific Region of Walgreens Boots Alliance, believed that Nansha is an inclusive, expanding, and vibrant city which brings confidence to investors. As the largest retail pharmacy chain in Europe and the United States, with a global network of more than 20,000 pharmacies, Walgreens Boots Alliance is upbeat about China’s big health industry. At the end of last year, Walgreens Boots Alliance established an equity investment fund in China focusing on the big health industry. This is its first time landing an equity investment fund in the Asia-Pacific region, while Nansha was ultimately selected as its headquarter.
According to Zhong Li, Nansha already provides a broad development platform for enterprises thanks to its efforts in attracting global investors and talents and promoting international exchange and cooperation. Nansha has laid a good foundation in terms of industrial upgrading and infrastructure improvement, which benefits future investment.
Why choose Nansha? Multinational corporations view Nansha as a hub connecting the east, west, and everywhere else. Nansha is accelerating the development of a three-dimensional transportation network of “sea, land, and air”, and “chaining” the world via multimodal transportation on river, sea, and train. Now there are more than 180 liner routes connecting more than 200 countries and regions around the world. In Nansha, Louis Dreyfus and Cargill have established their China trade headquarters. Nansha is a city of opening up. By taking advantage of the Free Trade Zone, Nansha has amassed 857 institutional innovations. Nansha is dedicated to creating a world-class business environment that offers convenient services to investors and traders from all over the world. Nansha successfully creates several innovative reform brands such as the commercial registration confirmation system, the global traceability system, and the Digital Service Trade Platform, which helps it rank among the top three national new zones in terms of business environment evaluation. Nansha is a city of opportunities. Major policies such as 15% preferential enterprise income tax, preferential individual income tax, and extending the loss carryover period for high and new technology enterprises granted by the Nansha Plan have all been put into effect; policy benefits such as comprehensive bonded zone, import trade promotion innovation demonstration zone, and cross-border trade investment and financing pilot continue to be unleashed; special policies in characteristic fields such as 9 policies on Unicorn “Golden Ranch” and 9 policies on Space Exploration, and Four-Chain integration policy system provides strong support for the rapid growth of enterprises and talents in the Greater Bay Area.
The legalized business environment has strengthened the confidence of multinational enterprises developing in the Greater Bay Area. The Nansha International Arbitration Center has launched the first “3+N” arbitration tribunal model, and more than 30 legal service institutions are stationed in the Greater Bay Area and the “Belt and Road” Initiative Legal Service Cluster. The first ascertaining foreign law platform is also constructed.
(Subheading) Nansha Development: Working Jointly to Share Opening Market Opportunities
A number of multinational executives in China shared their observations and experiences of Nansha during the event and their confidence about future investments in Nansha. On the morning of the 19th, this group of multinational enterprises in China visited representative enterprises or pavilions in Nansha, such as Apt Electronics, Guangzhou Toyota Motor, Cloudwalk Technology, Nansha Port Phase IV Terminal, Guangdong Medical Valley, Innovation Bay, and Planning Exhibition Hall.
Yu Feng, President of Honeywell China, said, “The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been an important production and business base for Honeywell China, and I hope we have the opportunity to make some contributions to build a greener, low-carbon, and energy-saving Greater Bay Area.”
Several Honeywell business units are perfectly suited to ongoing projects in Nansha. According to Yu Feng, Honeywell will assist the Greater Bay Area in the future to upgrade its industries in areas like green industry and digitalization and to make breakthroughs in environmental protection, carbon reduction, and smart empowerment.
Zhang Xinhai, Chairman of the China Greater Bay Area Technology and Innovation Fund, said that Nansha is the bridgehead of the construction of the Greater Bay Area and an important area within the overall Greater Bay Area strategy. The Nansha Plan issued by the State Council in June last year has given Nansha a new position and important mission, which breeds a huge strategic opportunity from the perspective of investment.
The favorable circumstances also draw companies that do a variety of business. “Beautiful Nansha, smart Nansha,” remarked Lina Qiu, Vice President of Thales China, “I hope Thales will have the privilege to continue flourishing in Nansha.”
Qiu Lina believes that Nansha offers a very good platform. Surrounding scientific innovations in the Greater Bay Area, the connectivity in urban traffic infrastructure, and the smart city cluster, Nansha is pursuing cross-border development and integration. She anticipates better promoting Nansha and even the bigger idea of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on this platform.
(Subheading) Nansha Vision: Gathering Talents to Win the Future Jointly
The strategic importance of Nansha has increased recently. In 2012, it became a state-level new area. In 2015, it received approval to operate as a pilot free trade zone, and in 2019, it was designated as a demonstration zone of all-round cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The Nansha Plan, which was introduced by the State Council in 2022, gives Nansha the mission of becoming a major strategic platform based on the Greater Bay Area, in collaboration with Hong Kong and Macao and facing the world.
Not only the efforts of businesses but also the support of outstanding talents contribute to Nansha’s high-quality development. The talent development environment in Nansha is excellent. It is the first international talent special zone in China and the first to create a “business intelligence environment” at the regional level. Nansha established the first immigration services sub-center in Guangdong and created the Nansha Demonstration Park of China (Guangzhou) Industry Park of Human Resources Service, which gathers more than 20,000 high-level and backbone talents that nearly quadrupled in size in three years.
“We will create an industrial demonstration park in Nansha for Guangdong-Hong Kong cooperation, focusing mainly on artificial intelligence, new materials, and other fields”, said Lo Kam-Yam, President of Hong Kong Commerce and Industry Associations, “Nansha is very suitable for Hong Kong enterprises to invest in and develop, both in terms of tax and talent policies.”
Due to its “enterprising and pioneering” spirit, and its ambition of ushering into a new era, Guangzhou Nansha is quickly growing to become a powerful engine for the development of the Greater Bay Area. Building a hot spot for international businessmen to invest in and develop, Nansha now is inviting talents from home and abroad to work together for a better future.
