13 pilot programs from Guangzhou were listed as the best pilot programs for opening up the services sector, according to the Promotion Conference on Greater Openness in the Services Sector, part of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which kicked off on September 3. Those pilot programs involved the fields such as financial innovation, green development and professional services.
In the promotion conference, Guangzhou highlighted three projects including ZF Guangzhou Technical Center and ZF Electronics Plant, Guangzhou (Huangpu) Education Innovation Zone for Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchanges and Yuexintong cross-border data line.
In December 2022, Guangzhou was allowed to launch comprehensive pilot programs for opening up the service sector, so as to speed up reform and opening up in the service sector, accelerate development of modern services, and forge new advantages in international competition and cooperation.
Since then, Guangzhou conducted deeper cooperation with other cities in GBA in the field of sci-tech innovation. For example, Guangzhou Laboratory and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) have been listed as the pilot units for the reform of cross-border free flow of scientific research materials. National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou opened the network line to access supercomputer to Hong Kong, allowing nearly 300 Hong Kong, Macao and overseas scientific research teams to use the Tianhe II supercomputer services to carry out scientific researches.
Licensing Ceremony of the Roving Legal Service Workstation of the Legal Support Center for Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Nansha
Guangzhou also provides more opportunities for Hong Kong and Macao youth to start their business in Guangzhou. The city has built 52 innovation and entrepreneurship bases for Hong Kong and Macao youth, attracting more than 2,000 youth from the two SARs to start their businesses in Guangzhou.
Data show that in the first half of this year, Guangzhou's value-added service output reached 1031.495 billion RMB, an increase of 5.8 percent year on year, accounting for 73 percent of the city's GDP. Meanwhile, during this period, Guangzhou's foreign investment in actual use in services sector reached 23.168 billion RMB, with the establishment of 2,699 new foreign-invested enterprises, an increase of 83.1 percent.