China Economic Times: Huangpu, a hotspot for innovators, entrepreneurs, creators

Huangpu, a district in eastern Guangzhou, is famous for the Nanhai God Temple, the starting point of the ancient maritime Silk Road and the birthplace of Huangpu Junxiao, or the Whampoa Military Academy, the first modern military school in China. It is home to Guangzhou Port, the largest in South China.

As the first business environment reform and innovation experimental zone in Guangdong province, the district began to integrate with the Guangzhou Development District (GDD) in September 2017 to create a world-class business environment with international standards.

Early this year, Huangpu held a meeting of investors to optimize its environment business and announce its goal of becoming a national reform and innovation experimental zone.

Reform and innovation of its business environment has long been a calling card of Huangpu. It was the first district in China to launch an enterprise construction bureau in 2005 and was the first in the province to set up an administrative service authority in 2015.

In 2018, a raft of innovative measures was taken to streamline its administrative service procedures and make reviews and approvals more efficient and convenient.

The district also launched the province's first business environment reform bureau in March, making Guangzhou the pioneer in that regard among the four Chinese mega-cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

These efforts are bearing fruit. Last year, Huangpu brought in 138 major projects with total investment of more than 200 billion yuan ($29 billion), including 33 invested by the world's top 500 companies, Chinese central state-owned enterprises, China's top 500 and China's top 500 private enterprises.

It also drew in 29 headquarters in 2018, second only to Tianhe district in Guangzhou. It boasts the most foreign-funded enterprises and returned overseas Chinese in the city.

A promotional film of the GDD and Huangpu district was released at the 2019 Guangzhou Annual Investment Conference.

At a sub-forum of the event, Xian Yinsong, executive deputy chief of Huangpu district, welcomed innovators, entrepreneurs and creators to the district to seek business opportunities.

Huangpu will further establish a business-friendly environment through setting detailed goals and upgrading policies relating to investment attraction.

Huang Jiaoe, head of the GDD's business environment reform bureau said the district will formulate the first district-level business environment evaluation index system.

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