Guangdong Entrepreneurs Convention highlights development of GBA

Guangdong entrepreneurs and business representatives signed a total of 24 projects valued at 44.46 billion yuan ($6.26 billion) at the 2025 World Guangdong Entrepreneurs Convention, held in the Guangdong provincial capital recently, indicating their strong confidence in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The projects — which mainly involve artificial intelligence, semiconductors, networks and communications — not only feature cutting-edge layouts focused on scientific and technological innovation, but also include measures for enhancing engagement in the real economy and encourage cooperation that connects to resources at home and abroad.

"They fully demonstrate the strategic vision and pragmatic spirit of the Cantonese business community," organizers of the event said, which was jointly hosted by Guangdong provincial government and Guangdong Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Lin Keqing, chairman of Guangdong Committee of CPPCC, urged Guangdong business representatives to achieve win-win cooperation in the city's opening-up and high-quality development in the coming months. He added that Guangdong businesspeople have always been an indispensable and vital force for the province's reform and opening-up.

Lin said the provincial government pays great attention to the development of the private economy and would continue to spare no effort to build a first-class, market-oriented, law-based international business environment, creating more business opportunities for investors and businesspeople from around the world.

Li Dongsheng, founder and chairman of Chinese consumer electronics maker TCL Technology Group Corp, said GBA, boasting a complete industrial and supply chain system, has formed a number of trillion-yuan-level electronic information industry clusters and established a competitive advantage.

"Over the past five years, TCL has invested a total of 82.5 billion yuan in Guangdong," Li said. "And just a few days ago, we announced an additional investment of 29.5 billion yuan to build a printed OLED display panel factory in Guangzhou, consolidating GBA's leading position in the global display industry."

Li added that he looks forward to working cooperatively to build GBA into a world leader in advanced manufacturing. Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, chairman of Hong Kong's Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, said that in order to establish the GBA as an open economic system aligned with international standards, companies from Guangdong and Hong Kong should anchor themselves in the GBA, maximize industrial synergy, and identify their roles in the "R&D-manufacturing-circulation-service" chain.

Hong Kong enterprises have accumulated important international perspectives and global resource integration capabilities and boast world-class professional services in the fields of finance, law and accounting, according to Choi, while Guangdong enterprises possess advanced manufacturing clusters and serve as a crucial part of the comprehensive industrial chain on the mainland.

Choi urged Guangdong and Hong Kong to join hands to build logistics hubs and enhance the resilience of the supply chain in the months to come.

Chau Chak Wing, chairman of Kingold Group, said that as a frontier of reform and opening-up, Guangdong has always been a "fertile ground" and a "highland" for the development of the private economy.

"Guangdong provincial government has always attached great importance to the development of the private economy, issuing a series of targeted and effective support policies and continuously optimizing the business environment," he said.

"Now, with the in-depth advancement of GBA construction, its capabilities in global resource allocation and innovation origination continue to strengthen, making it one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world," Chau said. "And this not only provides broad development space for the private economy, but also endows the Cantonese business community with the historical mission of participating in the construction of a world-class bay area."

Zheng Yongnian, director of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), believes investing in GBA is investing in the future.

"The GBA, where GDP reached 14.8 trillion yuan last year, is expected to become a world economic center, the largest one, and a scientific and technological innovation center, as the region enjoys a stable social and economic environment and stable investment policies when comparing with other areas around the world," he said.

Economic, technological, and social development depends not only on sound infrastructure, but also on a stable social and political environment, Zheng said, adding that Guangdong entrepreneurs and business representatives should seize the opportunities to invest or expand their investment in GBA.

Around 1,000 government officials, experts, scholars, entrepreneurs and representatives of well-known Guangdong businesspeople from more than 60 countries and regions attended the event at the end of September, which also included five parallel conferences and related supporting activities.