The Pilot Free Trade Zone in Guangdong, China has proved itself a top destination for foreign investment with opening-up efforts creating more opportunities for businesses.
Officially launched in April 2015, Guangdong FTZ covers Nansha in Guangzhou, Qianhai and Shekou in Shenzhen, and Hengqin in Zhuhai.
In August 2019, French nutrition giant Danone opened its first cross-border e-commerce warehouse in the Chinese mainland in Nansha, allowing its products ordered online to be shipped directly from its overseas factories to China. It was an important development in Nansha becoming an international distribution center.
It took just five months for the warehouse to go from project preparation and construction to completion and opening, according to the management of the FTZ.
In October, it was decided that the Guangzhou Futures Exchange would be located in Nansha with an expected registered capital of 3 billion yuan ($432.8 million).
In November, Nansha International Cruise Home Port began operating. It is the largest cruise terminal in China and can berth the largest cruise liner in the world.
Hengqin, which mainly serves the development of Macao, attracted 745 newly registered companies from the special administrative region last year. The total number of Macao-funded companies in Hengqin reached 2,157 by Dec 16, 2019, with an accumulative investment of $18.8 billion.
As a whole, about 42,600 companies were added to the Guangdong FTZ from January to November in 2019. After four years’ development, the Nansha area of the Guangdong FTZ mainly focuses on the five industries of shipping and logistics, high-end manufacturing, finance, technological innovation, and health and life sciences.
The Qianhai-Shekou area has an emphasis on finance, modern logistics, information services and technological services, and Hengqin focuses on tourism, financial services, culture, science and high technology.
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