South China city of Guangzhou, the host city of 2017 Fortune Global Forum, held a promotion seminar in Silicon Valley on Sept 21, the fourth roadshow in the US following New York, Washington and Chicago.

Cai Chaolin, director of the 2017 Fortune Global Forum Executive Committee; Diao Ailin, deputy secretary-general of Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Gong Hongwu, secretary of party leadership group of Guangzhou Science Technology and Innovation Commission attended the seminar. Distinguished guests included Stephen Ciesinski, president of Stanford Research Institute International, Lenny Siegel, vice mayor of Mountain View city in California and Hau Lee, professor of Stanford Graduate School of Business and enterprise representatives from Guangzhou and the finance industry of Silicon Valley.

Guangzhou held a promotion seminar for the 2017 Fortune Global Forum in Silicon Valley on Sept 21. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Similar to San Francisco's world famous high-tech center Silicon Valley, Guangzhou also boasts an agreeable environment, inclusive culture and transport services including world-class ports and a favorable key position as a part of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

"Guangzhou has 83 higher education institutions and 140,000 technology enterprises; Over 11,000 businesses are nurtured by various incubators and group innovation space (GIS) and a daily average of 386 new enterprises are registered in Guangzhou, five of which are foreign-owned," noted Gong.

With the surge of the internet, the bond between Guangzhou and Silicon Valley is becoming increasingly close. The roadshow aimed to provide a platform for enterprises of the two places to exchange ideas and seek business opportunities.

Prior to the road show, a 60-second video clip promoting the Guangdong capital was unveiled. The video will be broadcasted on channels of Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) to more than 400 million people from Sept 20 to 25. 

Guangzhou will surely become the top investment hub in the world and the best place for enterprises to expand their businesses, according to Max Raven, senior vice president of CNBC who watched the video that introduced Guangzhou in areas including economy, special industries and future planning.

Cai Chaolin, director of the 2017 Fortune Global Forum Executive Committee gives a speech at the promotion seminar. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

This is the fourth time a promotion seminar has been held in America, showing the increasing close relationship between Guangzhou and the US. From January to July this year, 32 American invested enterprises were set up in Guangzhou, with contract investment reaching $21 million. By the end of July, America had set up 1,019 companies in Guangzhou, with the contract investment amount reaching $2.3 billion.

Moreover, many companies including consumer product giant Procter & Gamble and daily necessaries provider Amway have set up headquarters in Guangzhou. In March, the $800-million biotech park, jointly invested by General Electric Company and Guangzhou Development District (GDD) was launched in Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City; in April, the intelligent-manufacturing-centered project of CISCO (Guangzhou) Smart City started construction and in August, GDD signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the world leading research institute on cancer, neuroscience, quantitative biology, plant biology, bioinformatics and genomics in the US.

Lenny Siegel, vice mayor of Mountain View city in California gives a speech at the promotion seminar. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]