The Nansha Free Trade Zone, an area within the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, celebrated its 5th anniversary in April. Located at the core of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Nansha FTZ shared information about its rapid development over the past five years at the press conference on April 21st:
-Nansha has formulated 658 innovative policies to facilitate the local business environment.
-Nansha’s GDP surged from 102.6 billion yuan (about $14.48 billion) to 168.3 billion yuan (about $23.75), with an average annual growth rate of 10.4 percent from 2014 to 2019.
-Import and export volume grew from 130.3 billion yuan (about $18.4 billion) to 213.7 billion yuan (about $30.16 billion), with an average annual growth of 10.4 percent, accounting for one fifth of the total volume in Guangzhou.
-The number of registered companies increased from 8400 to 124 thousand.
-The actual utilization of foreign capital rose from $1 billion to $1.863 billion with an annual growth rate of 13.2 percent. The district also attracted 172 projects from Fortune Global 500 companies.
[Photo\Nanfang Daily]
Administrative services
16 percent of the 658 innovative polices are devoted to bringing more convenience to investors. The launch of “one-stop service window” has optimized the efficiency of administrative services. For example, now a company can be set up in the district with zero cost and in as little as ten minutes, exponentially faster than the previous one week window required.
According to a third-party report conducted by Infinity Technology, Nansha currently ranks 24th in the world’s best business environments, up 5 places on 2018’s ranking.
[Photo\Nanfang Daily]
Port related industries, trade and financial services
Nansha has opened 110 international container lines over the past five years. The biggest international cruise port started operation in the district in 2019 and has handled more than 1.65 million passengers (ranking 3rd nationwide).
The district’s parallel import vehicle sales totalled 47.8 thousand, the second highest in China. The volume of cross-border e-commerce imports increased 46.2 percent to more than 38.9 billion yuan.
To boost foreign trade, Nansha formulated 180 innovative policies, 40 of which have subsequently been initiated countrywide.
Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao cooperation
Nansha is the pilot area for tri-regional cooperation.
On February 12th this year, the Qingsheng Railway Station complex became the first construction project in Guangzhou to adopt a Hong Kong management model and is expected to attract more Hong Kong professionals to the local development.
Nansha Bridge [Photo\Nanfang Daily]
Thus far, the connection between Nansha and Hong Kong has been strengthened with both an increasingly sophisticated transport network and infrastructural projects such as the Nansha Bridge, Shenzhen- Zhongshan Channel and Nansha Passenger Port.
Finance is also an important sphere for cooperation. The district now sees a cluster of 6526 financial companies and has become the largest aircraft leasing center in the Greater Bay Area.
Education and healthcare
Although Nansha is a relatively new district, it has attracted a number of well-known schools and hospitals to open their campus here so as to better its living environment. Projects including Guangzhou NO.2 Middle School (Nansha Tianyuan Campus) and Guangzhou Guangya High School (Nanhai Campus) are under construction. Premium hospital projects such as Guangzhou Women And Children’s Medical Center also established their new campus in the district.
High-tech industry
The district is also dedicated to the development of the high-tech industry. It has established four open platforms including the Guangzhou international AI research institute, iFlytek South China AI research institute and the Chinese Academy of Science’s smart software research institute. It has attracted more than 190 AI companies such as Pony.ai. A series of major scientific infrastructure projects are also underway in the district.