By the end of 2020, Guangzhou had invested in 1,636 non-financial overseas projects in 89 countries (regions) around the world, with the contracted investment of 23.074 billion US dollars, according to a symposium held in Guangzhou aimed at helping local companies go global.

(Photo provided to GDToday)

The event was hosted by Guangzhou Municipal Commerce Bureau and co-organized by China Southern Airlines, which attracted representatives of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones and key enterprises with overseas business.

According to the statistics, currently Guangzhou enterprises are invested in 7 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, including 5 in Africa and 2 in Asia. In 2020, three of the above cooperation zones were included in the statistics of China's Ministry of Commerce, with a total area of more than 5.72 million square meters, and investments of over 650 million US dollars.

As the city's largest foreign investment project, the Saudi Project of Pan-Asia PET Resin (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd has obtained a license issued by the Saudi Arabian Investment Administration, said Chen Huanzhan, vice president of Pan-Asia Saudi Co., Ltd. The company will develop the project into a world-class petrochemical integration demonstration project for the Belt and Road Initiative and China-Saudi Arabia industrial cooperation.

Another international trade enterprise, Sunda International Group also expanded their overseas market rapidly. It was one of the companies that entered Africa, South America and other overseas markets at the very beginning. Now the Group has a marketing network covering more than 20 countries (regions), with 8 production bases established in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal and in other countries.

According to Hong Qian, director of Guangzhou Municipal Commerce Bureau, the bureau will improve service systems for enterprises to go global, and help them to set-up and maintain proper multi-national operations.