Jiangmen Emerging as a Staunch Opener for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

JIANGMEN, China, Nov. 5, 2017 /CNW/ -- As the most renowned homeland of overseas Chinese, Jiangmen has worked to create an innovative industrial cluster known as "Qiaomengyuan" (the Dream Incubator for Overseas Chinese), set up a 2-billion-yuan start-up and innovation development fund and build a transportation hub for the west bank of the Pearl River. According to the People's Government of Jiangmen Municipality, all these efforts are designed to pool talented overseas Chinese and accelerate opening up.

Nearly four million overseas Chinese from 107 countries and regions have considered Jiangmen as their ancestral home, making it a reputed homeland of overseas Chinese. For a long time, any change to the city has stirred up strong emotions among overseas Chinese at home and abroad. In 1995, Li Wenda, president of LEE KUM KEE Group, famed as "Kingdom of Sauces" located its largest factory in Xinhui District, Jiangmen. The company now represents a local food giant, whose output has surpassed 20 billion yuan. "Xinhui is my hometown and the origin of LEE KUM KEE," Li repeated. By the end of 2016, Jiangmen had received a donation worth HKD 7.41 billion and a total investment of USD 23.61 billion from overseas Chinese.

As an indispensable resource, talents also represent the most dynamic and active part of the activity to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. Jiangmen has stayed committed to connecting the world through overseas Chinese. That's how its innovation and entrepreneurship platforms for global overseas Chinese, including World Youth Congress of Jiangmen and the aforesaid dream incubator came into being. It is said that the dream incubator has received more than 810 high-caliber talents and invited some 250 signed projects or intended teams. That suggests a cluttering effect of projects and talents in the making. On top of these, the third Global Conference of the Cantonese the city hosts will attract overseas Chinese throughout the world to return to their ancestors' roots or seek potential investment. To expand its circle of global overseas Chinese, it has set up 19 liaison departments worldwide.

The development planning for the urban cluster within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was officially launched earlier this year. That means a new world-class bay area is taking shape on the estuary of the Pearl River, joining other globally-famed bay areas of New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. As an integral part of the Bay Area in southern China, Jiangmen connects the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong and Macao to the western Guangdong. The city has channeled a 4-billion-yuan investment into the construction of the integrated transport hub Jiangmen Station, which, when completed, will be the largest for the western Guangdong. As is known, Jiangmen covers an area of 9,504 square kilometers, about one quarter the size of the Pearl River Delta. With a development density of only 11.6 per cent, it has a promising broad space for development and the superiority in bearing capacity. What is worth mentioning is the Greater Guanghai Bay Economic Zone, an untouched land of the Pearl River Delta. It is expected to be the largest among new provincial-level zones in Guangdong, with a planing area of about 3,240 square kilometers and land development intensity standing at 5 per cent.

Efforts to integrate multiple certifications and licenses into one consolidated business license have, to a large extent, been open to better government services, and led the country in administration streamlining, attracting visiting delegations from more than 100 cities. Meanwhile, the set-up of a monitoring mechanism for lists of charges and increased investment in technology have helped shape an enabling business environment. And it, thus, has become a magnet for an influx of industrial leaders, such as Siemens and Knorr-Bremse Group, CRRC Guangdong Company and Guangdong FUWA Engineering Group.

Statistics show that Jiangmen is home to over 48-thousand small and micro businesses to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, ensuring a sound climate for innovations. It will promote the communication and cooperation between overseas Chinese and entrepreneurs in the fields of business and trade, culture, tourism and public fitness. While upholding preferential policies for these small and micro businesses, the city will broaden the space for increased cooperation in industry and technology within the Bay Area.

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SOURCE The People's Government of Jiangmen Municipality