Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

In 2018, Zhuhai imported and exported 28.9 percent more high-tech products than the previous year due to its improved foreign trade structure. The total value of trade with Belt & Road countries and regions increased by 19.6 percent, another indication of the city's increasing international success. 

In the same year, 3,973 foreign-funded enterprises were established in Zhuhai, an increase of 153.9 percent. The actual absorption of foreign investment rose by 26.9 percent to 15.6 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), and the city received the third most foreign investment among all cities in Guangdong Province.

Zhuhai is increasing efforts to open up to the outside world, and the aforementioned figures are vivid evidence of the city's success so far. The city is focusing more on top-level structure and continues to explore effective ways to improve the allocation of resources.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is expected to create a "one-hour living circle" in the region while boosting the economies by providing an efficient way to transport goods, information, capital, and talent.

Hong Kong and Macao are often used as springboards to international markets and are seen as Zhuhai's "super contact". Now that Zhuhai and the two special economic regions are connected via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, there is huge potential for cooperation between them. Eyeing the opportunity, Hengqin New Area, Zhuhai's most significant "open" zone, launched 66 innovative reform measures involving 18 different areas last year to further enhance its attractiveness as a location to carry out large projects. To date, 370 of the area's institutional innovations have been put into effect.

Hengqin is seen as a national strategic platform and is the first internationally-oriented demonstration area to cooperate closely with Guangdong. In 2018, 774 Hong Kong and Macao enterprises registered in Hengqin, putting the total number of registered enterprises at 2,744.

The Shizimen Central Business District in Zhuhai provides top-notch business and commercial services.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Science & Technology Industrial Park of Cooperation Between Guangdong & Macao has 111 registered enterprises, while the Macao-Hengqin Youth Entrepreneurship Valley has attracted 47 projects from the two SARs.

Last year, Zhuhai (Jinwan) Airport processed 11.22 million arrivals and departures, becoming the fourth such airport in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with a passenger throughput exceeding 10 million. Improved connectivity has made these achievements possible and facilitated the city's increasing interaction with the outside world.

The Macao-Hengqin Youth Entrepreneurship Valley is home to many cooperative projects. [Photos by Li Jianshu / Zhuhai Daily]