Guangzhou: An Important Hub Center of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road

In February of this year, the State Council officially approved Guangzhou's positioning as a leading city in Guangdong Province, a national historical and cultural city, an important central city in China, an international trade center, and a comprehensive transportation hub. In the future, Guangzhou will strengthen its deep cooperation with Hong Kong and Macau, becoming an important hub of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The Nansha area of the Guangdong Free Trade Zone will be built into a demonstration zone for deep cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Around the goal of building an important central city, Guangzhou's three major international "hubs" will support the future of the "center".

Nansha New Area's' International Shipping Hub 'sets sail

Nansha New Area, located at the southern end of the Pearl River, is the only access to the sea for Guangzhou and the geographical center and hub of the Greater the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration. On April 21st last year, Nansha New Area, together with Shenzhen Qianhai and Zhuhai Hengqin, welcomed the official establishment of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Targeting the international shipping hub, Nansha New Area sets sail.

I like Nansha, just like sharks love the sea, eagles love the sky. Long Xuesong, a former "coal boss" from Jincheng, Shanxi, registered 34 companies (associations) in Nansha New Area, including cross-border product display, parallel imported cars, shipping finance leasing, etc., and built a "giant" platform called "Egret Headquarters". As of April 20th this year, there were 10802 newly established enterprises in Nansha New Area, with an added registered capital of 111.3 billion yuan. 50 Fortune 500 companies have successively entered the area, and industries such as shipping and logistics, innovative finance, financial leasing, and cross-border e-commerce have gradually become clustered.

In terms of promoting investment facilitation and customs clearance trade facilitation, multiple "Nansha models" have emerged: the "11 Certificates and Three Chapters Joint Office", the first government purchase inspection service, the first customs rapid release mechanism, the first "Smart Inspection Port", and the first international trade "Single Window" 2.0 version online

Building an international shipping center and expanding and strengthening ports are key. In just one year, six 100000 ton container berths have been completed at the third phase terminal of Nansha Port, which can now accommodate the world's largest container ships; 28 inland waterless ports have been built, with a total of 74 international shipping routes; The construction of cruise homeports has been launched, and routes have been opened to Hong Kong, Sanya, Da Nang, and Miyako Island. In 2015, the container throughput of Nansha Port reached 11.77 million TEUs, ranking twelfth in the world. At the same time, the shipbuilding industry in Nansha New Area also has broad prospects. During the 13th Five Year Plan period, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation will invest 15 billion yuan to build a marine equipment industry base in Longxue, Nansha, with Guangzhou as the base, further radiating to the Beibu Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Baiyun International Aviation Hub is about to emerge

Seafood caught from Australia can be transported to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport within 36 hours. After customs, border inspection, and quarantine, it can be delivered to the seafood market next to Guangzhou citizens within 12 hours. Baiyun Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone is a large-scale airport type comprehensive bonded zone in China, with more than 260 enterprises currently settled in. Its business covers bonded logistics warehousing and distribution, cross-border e-commerce, processing, and customs declaration agency industries.

To participate in international competition, Guangzhou must gather high-end elements in the global industrial chain, innovation chain, and value chain. The international aviation hub is an important resource, platform, and carrier for building a central city, "said Ren Xuefeng, member of the Standing Committee of the Guangzhou Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee.

The air routes are becoming increasingly dense, and logistics are becoming more and more developed!

At 7:30 am on May 7th, a Finnair passenger plane departing from Helsinki successfully arrived at Baiyun Airport. So far, there are 72 airlines currently operating at Baiyun Airport, including 47 foreign airlines; More than 270 air routes have been opened, including over 100 international routes and over 70 international navigation points. The construction of Terminal 2 and its supporting projects at the airport are being urgently promoted. In addition, China Southern Airlines Group, headquartered in Guangzhou, has a capacity of 180 aircraft in Guangzhou, connecting up to 141 global air routes through Guangzhou. China Eastern Airlines Guangdong Branch has also successfully settled in Baiyun, with a planned operation of 30 aircraft during the 13th Five Year Plan period.

In January of this year, the "Management Measures for Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone" were issued, and the 116 square kilometer area of Baiyun District was designated as a key development zone of the airport economic zone. In the future, the airport economic zone will accelerate the development of the aviation industry cluster, with the first projects being the China Australia New Korea Free Trade Industrial Park, Guangzhou Airport Cross border E-commerce Cluster, and Precious Goods Distribution and Trading Center. At present, projects such as FedEx Asia Pacific Transit Center, Postal Express South China Processing Center, and R&F Logistics have successively settled in, and the annual international cargo processing capacity of Baiyun Airport will also be increased to 1.5 million tons. In the future, the airport can achieve direct access to the central urban area in 20 minutes and cover the Pearl River Delta in 1 hour, greatly enhancing regional radiation, "said Sun Xiuqing, director of the Guangzhou Airport Management Committee.

Air travel is faster, and ground transportation is not inferior. At present, Guangzhou is planning to build railways from Guangzhou to Hainan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Yunnan (Southeast Asia), Beijing, Shanghai, Macao, Hong Kong and other eight directions, as well as 11 subways with a total length of 303 kilometers, on the basis of the existing 9 subways, 13 railways, high-speed railways and intercity railways. At that time, with Guangzhou as the center, a strategic corridor will be built that connects the eastern and northwestern parts of Guangdong, the Beibu Gulf, the southwestern region, the southeastern region, the Yangtze River Delta, and other directions.

Yangcheng "International Technology Innovation Hub" sings loudly

In the vast welding workshop, rows of intelligent robotic arms bend and rise, with ups and downs, and one intelligent rail car after another moves or stops, or loads or unloads... On April 18th, the GAC FCA factory, which produces 160000 Jeep Renegade vehicles annually, officially put into operation. The GAC Trumpchi GA8, which has invested 1.08 billion yuan in research and development and represents China's higher level of vehicle manufacturing, was launched.

Against the backdrop of global overcapacity in the automotive industry, we rely on independent innovation to produce at least four models that sell well every year. All models in our lineup have received a five-star rating for C-NCAP safety collision from the China Automotive Technology Center, and we hold core technologies such as major components, vehicle control, and new energy in our own hands, "said Wu Song, General Manager of GAC Motor Co., Ltd. proudly. As a leading pillar industry in the city, Guangzhou Automobile is expected to contribute 500 billion yuan in output value this year.

Traditional industries are rejuvenated, while emerging business models are developing vigorously. In 2015, the total number of cross-border e-commerce enterprises in Guangzhou reached 879, with a total import and export volume of 6.85 billion yuan, ranking among the most well-known on the entire network. The "Tianhe-2" supercomputer located in Guangzhou University City has achieved six consecutive global top computing speeds and provides typical application services to over 660 users. The industrial robot and intelligent equipment industry in the city has gathered more than 20 production, research and development, and integrated application enterprises, with an output value of nearly 40 billion yuan. Shangpin Home Delivery, Sofia, OPPEIN, and Kumanju have become benchmarks in the national custom furniture industry.

This year, the funds used for scientific and technological innovation in the entire district's finances will reach 1 billion yuan, doubling from last year, "said Chen Zhiying, a member of the Standing Committee of the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Guangzhou Development Zone, and Secretary of the Huangpu District Committee. The Guangzhou Development Zone (Huangpu District) aims to become the main engine for Guangzhou's construction of an international scientific and technological innovation hub and the core area of the Pearl River Delta independent innovation demonstration zone. At present, the Guangzhou Development Zone (Huangpu District) with an area of less than 500 square kilometers already has four innovative development platforms: China Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, Guangzhou Science City, Guangzhou International Bio Island, and Huangpu Port Economic Zone. Pazhou Internet Innovation Cluster, which is close to the Canton Fair, has also sprung up. It has successfully introduced Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi Technology and other leading Internet enterprises. On May 27th, the 2016 China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Achievement Exchange Conference opened, showcasing over 1700 innovative and entrepreneurial achievement projects. In order to stimulate mass entrepreneurship and innovation, the China Association for Science and Technology has decided to settle in Guangzhou for a long time and hold an annual conference.

The construction of a central city cannot do without a high-quality talent team. At the beginning of the year, we launched a strong innovation and entrepreneurship leading talent support program, believing that entrepreneurship is in Guangzhou, innovation is in Guangzhou, and development is in Guangzhou. "For the future, Guangzhou Mayor Wen Guohui is full of confidence.