Guangzhou, South Korea vow to deepen cooperation

Guangzhou city, in Guangdong province, and South Korea are looking to expand their cooperation in emerging fields, such as new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, high-end equipment, and the modern service industry.

"The openness and affinity of Guangzhou has attracted many South Korean companies to invest here," Han Jae Heuk, the Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Guangzhou, said on Thursday, at an exchange event between the Guangzhou government and Korean-funded enterprises in the city.

At Thursday's event, Guangzhou officials listened to the opinions and suggestions of the representatives of nearly 30 Korean companies on how to improve the business environment, while also presenting new opportunities in the city's development.

Hong Qian, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said that the city will continue to support local Korean-funded enterprises, and hopes that they will continue to choose Guangzhou.

Earlier this year, the government and local financial institutions issued credit loans of up to 720 billion yuan ($111.07 billion) to help foreign-funded enterprises in Guangzhou combat the pandemic.

Guangzhou also launched the country’s first RCEP special policies to benefit cross-border e-commerce enterprises.

As of July this year, 232 Korean-invested enterprises have been established in the city, accompanied by 1,300 investment projects, shown by government data.

From January to July this year, the total import and export value between Guangzhou and South Korea was $5.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.96 percent.

During the same period, Guangzhou registered 32.8 billion yuan of actual use foreign capital, a year-on-year increase of 35.7 percent, with nearly 2,500 new foreign-funded enterprises being founded.