Deepen US-China Cooperation Cooperation and Create a Bright Future for High-tech Industries
Speech at the US-China Hi-Tech Summit
By Ming Yi, Deputy Director of Guangzhou Industry and Information Technology Commission
Translated by Menglai Han, Anna Tse
Respectful guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends:
I’m very pleased to attend the US-China Hi-Tech Summit, and I enjoy meeting with you to strengthen our friendship, deepen our cooperation and seek common development. Firstly, on behalf of the Guangzhou city government, I want to express my sincere thankfulness to Haiyin Capital! I also want to give everybody warm welcome and good wishes!
Mr. Ming Yi (right) and translator Anna Tse at US-China Hi-Tech Summit, Boston 2015(photo by Menglei Han).
Guangzhou is one of the five largest cities of China, and the capital city of Guangdong province with a total area of 7,434.4 square kilometers. The administrative population of Guangzhou is over 16 million. By 2014, the GDP of Guangzhou reaches approximately 272 billion dollars, ranking third in the country for 27 consecutive years. The per capita GDP of Guangzhou is $17,000. The foreign trade of Guangzhou city is $130.6 billion, which has attracted 236 Fortune 500 companies to invest in Guangzhou. After years of development, Guangzhou has developed a comprehensive industry with strong manufacturing capability and rich innovative resources. Moreover, Guangzhou is the city that has the most complete industrial categories in southern China, which include six industrial clusters: automobile, petrochemical, electronic products, key equipment, biological and health, new materials and high-end manufacturing, together amounting to a value of more than six thousand billion dollars. Guangzhou is also one of the three major passenger vehicle production bases, one of the three shipbuilding bases, national auto and parts export base, national energy-saving and new energy vehicles demonstration pilot city, national software industry base, the information industry base, online games and cartoon industry base, and service outsourcing model city in China.
In addition, Guangzhou owns Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, 77 academicians of the Academy of Engineering (accounting for 73% of Guangdong Province). Each year, more than 10 million experts from abroad come to work at Guangzhou. There are more than 10 million researchers and developers working in various industries in Guangzhou. Also, Guangzhou has 468 national and provincial-level entrepreneur technical centers, ranking the highest in Guangdong province. In 2014, the output value of the above city-scale high-tech product reaches 80 billion yuan, accounting for 45 percent of the city’s industrial output value. The “Tianhe-2” constructed by Guangzhou Super Computer Center is still the world’s fastest computer, consecutively ranking the top among TOP 500 super computers for 3 years. Moreover, Guangzhou is developing industrial robots, intelligent equipment, new generation of information technology, satellite navigation, cloud computing, big data, 3D printing and a number of rapid growing innovative industries. Guangzhou has initially formed a broad, large scale, high-level, influential and strong industrial clustering integration of new development pattern.
As an important gateway to China, Guangzhou is China’s significant shipping center, logistics center and trade center, as well as the hub of aviation, shipping, Internet and information. It is also an important nod of the global international capital deployment. Currently, the US has become the city’s largest trading partner, the most important source of investment and investment destination. By the end of July this year, nearly 1,000 US companies have invested in Guangzhou, totaling nearly $3 billion of investment value. Big companies like Procter & Gamble, Amway Greater China set up their greater China headquarter in Guangzhou. Meanwhile, Guangzhou also invests and set up 105 companies (institutions) in the US. The Chinese investment reaches $330 million. The investment fields cover product research and development, production, trade, services, etc. All these has proved the words that Chinese President Xi Jinping said when he visited the United States: “Once the door of Sino-US communication and cooperation opens, no force can shut it, the open door will only become wider and wider.”
As always, the United States leads the world in high-tech industries. New technologies and new products are created one after another. Meanwhile, Guangzhou as the representative of Chinese manufacturing industry features strong supporting capacity, large market capacity, strong complementarity. Therefore, there should be a broad and bright cooperation prospect between Guangzhou and the U.S.. Recently, President Xi Jinping had a state visit to United States, and reached consensus with the US on 49 specific cooperation including strengthening bilateral technology of both countries. Therefore, our visit aims to implement the consensus reached by the two sides, and to strengthen our cooperation with big cities in the U.S. including Boston. We would like to complement each other, realize mutual benefit.
At present, Guangzhou is actively implementing the “Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”, constructing the Nansha Free Trade Area, and accelerating the development of international shipping center, trade center, logistics center and modern financial system services. Guangzhou insists on innovation-driven development strategy, makes the “Speeding up the implementation of innovation-driven development strategic decision” and set up plans to double the science and technology funding. By 2017, the urban level science and technology funds will reach 10.8 billion yuan (of which 70% will be invested on entrepreneur research). All these show the great business opportunities and cooperation possibilities in the high-tech industry of Guangzhou. We hope the US companies grasp these opportunities, actively participate, and strengthen cooperation with us in robotics, intelligent equipment, motor vehicles, spare parts and marine engineering equipment manufacturing, new generation of information technology, 3D printing, general aviation and etc. We also hope the US companies to actively invest on biological and health, new materials, new energy vehicles, big data , new energy and energy conservation, environmental protection and other emerging industries. We will be happy to provide convenience and efficient administrative services to US investors and all international investors.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a proverb in United States: Seeing is believing. We cordially invite you to visit and take a look on Guangzhou. We sincerely hope to broaden communication and cooperation with all investors, and strive to achieve win-win outcome.
Finally, I wish US-China Hi-Tech Summit great success! Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you all good health and prosperous in your business.
Thank you all!