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Ⅰ. The Macro-environment of the GBA

BASF and ExxonMobil have progressed smoothly. Up till now, Guangdong has established over 310,000 foreign

investment projects, with an actual utilisation of foreign investment of USD 570 billion. Among the Fortune
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Global 500 companies, 350 are investing in Guangdong. The city strength, technological strength, and social
development strength of the GBA have greatly increased, with more and more attributes being on par with the
world’s three major bay areas. For example, according to the latest Research Report on the World Bay Area

Development Index (2023), based on a comprehensive evaluation of the Index, Shenzhen ranks second in terms
of living quality, followed by Hong Kong and Guangzhou. This indicates that the GBA has a high living quality,

especially in terms of the development of ports, which is a unique advantage of the GBA. 6

1.1.2 City strength and regional economic influence gradually increasing

In October 2023, the State Council approved the Guangdong Territorial Spatial Planning (2021-2035)

(hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”). The Plan mentions “building the Pearl River Delta into a world-class city
cluster and creating a modern industrial highland with global competitiveness”, “taking the Pearl River Delta port

cluster as the core, leveraging the leading and driving role of the GBA, and building a refined sea land corridor
network”.

In 2021, five cities in the GBA entered the GDP trillion RMB club, and the regional economic influence
continued to rise. Among them, after Shanghai (2017) and Beijing (2018), Shenzhen has become the third city

in China with a regional GDP exceeding RMB 3 trillion. In addition, the GDP of Dongguan in 2021 was RMB
1.08554 trillion, making it the fourth city in Guangdong Province with a GDP exceeding RMB one trillion,

following Guangzhou (2010), Shenzhen (2011), and Foshan (2020). 7
th
In the “Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China ‘14 Five-Year’ Business Development
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Plan”, “cultivating various international consumption centre cities with international competitiveness and

5 “GBA becomes one of the most promising growth poles in the world, China Economic Network (November 14, 2023),
http://district.ce.cn/newarea/roll/202311/14/t20231114_38790725.shtml
6 CHEN Nengjun, HU Yue, “Analysis report on World Bay Area development index from 2022 to 2023”, Research Report on World Bay
Area Development Index (2023), published in December, 2023.
7 REN Zhihong, ZHONG Yun, “From comprehensive collaboration to deep integration - construction and development of the GBA from
2021 to 2022”, GBA Construction Report (2022), p.36, published in April, 2023.
8 Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China ‘14 Five-Year’ Business Development Plan
th
http://images.mofcom.gov.cn/zhs/202107/20210708110842898.pdf

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