As an international trade center and gateway city in South China's Guangdong province, Guangzhou has witnessed continuous growth in foreign investment over the past decade while becoming a key destination for sharing the bounty of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The city's paid-in foreign investment increased from $4.58 billion in 2012 to $8.78 billion in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 5.9 percent. As of 2023, the cumulative paid-in foreign investment exceeded $130 billion.

Over the past decade, the city government of Guangzhou has achieved fruitful results from organizing a variety of activities to promote investment, including the Guangzhou Annual Investment Conference China, which was launched in 2015 and launched its 10th edition on Monday. It showcases the city's openness to the world and serves as a window for global investors to understand Guangzhou and China.

At the inaugural conference in 2015, a total of 161 major projects were introduced, including 21 key ones and another 140 in areas such as high-end manufacturing, information technology, commercial retail, financial services, medical health and headquarters economy. At the 2016 edition, contracts for 111 projects were signed at seven subforums, with a total contract value of about 220 billion yuan ($30.4 billion). The 2017 conference introduced a scientific and technological innovation achievement exhibition to display new technologies, products and achievements.

From left: An aerial view of Guangzhou's central business district. A research team from Kingfa Sci&Tech works on a project.

At the 2018 conference, Guangzhou signed a cooperation agreement with German conglomerate Siemens AG to strengthen cooperation in smart infrastructure, intelligent manufacturing and sustainable energy, while the 2019 edition saw the contract signing of 84 projects with a total investment of 318.5 billion yuan, involving industries and fields such as new generation IT, biomedicine and intelligent manufacturing.

At the 2020 conference, contracts for 266 projects were signed with a total investment of 654 billion yuan, and more than 200 major projects, with a total investment exceeding 500 billion yuan, were launched. During the 2021 edition, 183 projects were signed, with a total investment exceeding 860 billion yuan, while the 2022 conference witnessed the contract signing of 355 major projects involving advanced manufacturing, automobiles, new generation IT, modern commerce and new energy. At last year's edition, contracts for 443 projects were signed, including 172 in the manufacturing sector.

With the influx of investors and high-tech projects, Guangzhou's modern industrial system is thriving. As one of the three major automobile production bases in China, its production of new energy vehicles exceeded 650,000 units in 2023 — an increase of 108 percent year-on-year. In addition, the city's digital economy is showing rapid growth. In 2023, its added value of the core business accounted for 13 percent of the city's GDP, and 15,200 5G base stations were put into use, bringing the total to 91,700.

Guangzhou's green petrochemical and new materials enterprises have formed a pattern dominated by advanced petrochemical new materials and featuring new materials for automotive use. In 2022, its output value exceeded 360 billion yuan, ranking first in the province. Moreover, the city has formed a complete high-end equipment industry system, covering high-precision computer numerical control machine tools, intelligent equipment and system integration, marine engineering and rail transportation equipment.

As one of China's leading healthcare centers, Guangzhou is home to 14 colleges and universities in the field of biomedicine, as well as 44 clinical drug trial institutions, 91 key laboratories at provincial level or above, and 6,000 medical institutions. The city's modern urban consumer industry converges into six major industrial sectors: textiles and apparel; beauty and personal care; food and beverages; household appliances; furnishings; and jewelry. Guangzhou has more than 70,000 modern urban consumer industry enterprises, accounting for about two-thirds of its total number of manufacturing enterprises. Their total operating income exceeds 770 billion yuan.