Guangzhou hosts annual investment conference

The plenary session of the 2018 Guangzhou Annual Investment Conference was held at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center on the morning of March 28.

This year's conference, themed "Guangzhou, Your Best Choice", focused on communication and cooperation in various frontier areas such as new-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, new energy, new material, and intelligent networking.

Present at the conference were some 2,500 guests from around 1,800 domestic and international enterprises and institutes. Among them were Ren Xuefeng, Party secretary of Guangzhou, Wen Guohui, mayor of Guangzhou, Ren Hongbin, chairman of China National Machinery Industry Corporation, Liu Liehong, general manager of China Electronics Technology Corporation, John Bruns, vice-president of Boeing International, Allan Gabor, president of Merck China, and Ding Lei, founder and chairman of NetEase.

The attendees represented 93 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, 44 of China's Top 500 companies, and 109 industry-leaders or unicorn companies (startups worth $1 billion or more). Compared to the previous annual conferences, this year saw a noticeable rise of number and profile of participating companies, and a larger proportion of companies from emerging, rather than traditional, industries.

This year's conference served as an investment promotion platform not only for Guangzhou, but also for friendly countries and cities. Seven African countries, eight ASEAN countries, and some sister cities of Guangzhou also held exhibitions to draw potential investors.

Wen Guohui, mayor of Guangzhou, made the keynote speech at the plenary session. He pointed out that Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, will strive to be a pioneer for reform and opening-up. He said that Guangzhou City's Comprehensive Plan（2017-2035）has been put forward, which states the city's goal to build a higher city positioning, more innovation resources, updated industrial structure, a greater transport hub, better business environment, greater openness, and more livable environment. In conclusion, he welcomed attendees to tour and invest in the city, and called on everyone to create a better future together through joint efforts.

Afterwards, eight distinguished guests including Ren Hongbin, John Bruns, Allan Gabor, and Ding Lei shared their investment experiences in Guangzhou and their ideas on emerging industries, the Belt and Road Initiative, and other economic issues.

After the plenary session, government officials including Wen Guohui attended a sub-forum on deepening the cooperation between financial institutions and multinational companies on the Belt and Road Initiative, witnessing the signing of an agreement between Guangzhou municipal government and China Construction Bank (CCB). According to the agreement, CCB will grant Guangzhou one-trillion-yuan in credit funds for the construction of the Greater Bay area.

The plenary session of the 2018 Guangzhou Annual Investment Conference is held at Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center on the morning of March 28.[Photo/ycwb.com]