The 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the longest sea crossing in the world. Zhu Ruisheng / For China Daily

So far, Zhuhai has established trade relations with more than 220 countries and regions. In 2018, a total of 3,973 new foreign-invested enterprises were set up in the city, an increase of 153.9 percent from the previous year. The total foreign investment value exceeded 15.6 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 30 percent compared with the same period last year.

Zhuhai is prioritizing innovation. Over the past few years, the city government has insisted upon boosting innovation and creating a scientific and technological innovation system.

It is promoting the construction of high-level universities such as the Zhuhai Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, boosting scientific and technological innovation. It has also launched plans to attract more talent from around the world.

The city also issued measures to cultivate and introduce leading industries, offering beneficial policies, funding, talent and land supports for the development of entire industrial chains. Zhuhai aims to cultivate a batch of unicorn enterprises - startups valued at over $1 billion - and gazelle enterprises - high-growth companies - via its various investment funds.

So far, Zhuhai is home to more than 2,000 high-tech enterprises. Many of them, such as Yunzhou-Tech (Oceanalpha) and Naruida, are set to be qualified to unicorn status.

Zhuhai has implemented measures to strengthen opening-up and attract investment, such as providing enterprise headquarters projects with up to a 100-million-yuan in financial assistance.

The Belt and Road Initiative and the FTZ construction, as well as a series of high-level international exhibitions held in Zhuhai are expected to bring more opportunities to the city to improve its capacity for innovations and industry strength, officials said.