2024-01-24 07:01 Southern Metropolis Daily
On January 23, the Second Session of the 14th Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress opened, and Governor Wang Weizhong delivered the government work report. The report pointed out that in 2023, Guangdong’s GDP reached 13.57 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of 4.8%. It is the first province in the country to surpass 13 trillion yuan, and its total GDP has ranked first in the country for 35 consecutive years.
This achievement is the quantitative result of Guangdong’s adherence in 2023 to the path of striving for high-quality development as a means to achieve the Chinese-style modernization, and the implementation of the “1310” new benchmarks.
As an economic powerhouse with industrial added value accounting for one-eighth of the national total, possessing all 31 major manufacturing categories, including 15 ranking first in the country, Guangdong has become the first province in China to surpass 13 trillion yuan in regional GDP, maintaining its top position in terms of total GDP for 35 consecutive years. This achievement is a culmination of Guangdong’s long-standing accumulation and its numerous firsts in various aspects.
Enterprises are important market carriers for achieving high-quality development. In terms of quantity, Guangdong’s business entities have exceeded 18 million households, with a net increase of 1.728 million households throughout the year, ranking first in the country in terms of the number of business entities. Among them, there are 7.8 million enterprises, accounting for one-seventh of the national total, ranking first in the country. The number of large-scale industrial enterprises exceeds 71,000, also ranking first in the country.
In terms of “quality,” the implementation of the “large enterprise” cultivation and optimization action has resulted in the nurturing of 132 national-level champions in manufacturing, as well as 1,528 specialized, high-end and innovation-driven small and medium-sized enterprises. There are over 75,000 high-tech enterprises, ranking first in the country. Nineteen companies have entered the Fortune Global 500 list, and both the total number of A-share listed companies and the number of new domestically and overseas listed companies rank first in the country. High-level scientific and technological self-reliance has unleashed strong dynamics, with the effective registration of trademarks ranking first in the country. Progress has been made in building a strong province in education, scientific innovation, and talent, with the number of high-value invention patents, effective invention patents, and international PCT patent applications ranking first in the country. The number of research and development personnel in the province ranks first in the country...
In the government work report, Guangdong proposed firmly shouldering the responsibility of being a “major economic province and truly shouldering the responsibility of being a major economic province.” This confidence stems not only from the outstanding performance of individual cities but also from the coordinated development of the region. Behind the continuous seven-year ranking as the top region in comprehensive innovation capacity nationwide lies the province's efforts, with R&D expenditure totaling approximately 460 billion yuan, accounting for 3.39% of the regional GDP. The accumulation of efforts has led to the “Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou” technology cluster being ranked second in the global innovation index by the World Intellectual Property Organization for four consecutive years. In addition to Guangzhou’s economic output surpassing 3 trillion yuan, the province’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached 4.7 trillion yuan, growing by 5.8%. Shenzhen has become the second city in Guangdong with a trillion-yuan consumption market. Moreover, despite pressure, the province achieved positive growth in imports and exports. The value added of large-scale industries exceeded 4 trillion yuan, increasing by 4.4%, and industrial investment has maintained double-digit growth for 36 consecutive months. Foshan has become the second city in Guangdong with the total output value of large-scale industries exceeding 3 trillion yuan.
High-tech industries are a necessary lever for high-quality development, but they are not the only reliance of Guangdong. The province’s new energy vehicle production, cross-border e-commerce import and export volume, online retail sales, aquaculture seedling production, total output of aquatic products, marine production value, and total agricultural import and export volume all rank first in the country. In the field of cultural tourism, Guangdong ranks first in the country in terms of value added in culture and related industries, the number of tourists received, and total tourism revenue. It is also a national-level cultural industry demonstration zone. In terms of energy and ecology, Guangdong ranks first in the country in LNG as a single fuel for power, the scale of ship transport capacity, and the cumulative transaction volume of carbon emission quotas. It has established the only national and local joint construction new energy storage innovation center in the country. In terms of government services, Guangdong’s provincial-level government integration capacity for government services ranks first in the country.
In 2024, Guangdong will further advance the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in a comprehensive manner. This includes both the “hard connectivity” of infrastructure such as the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, Pazhou Port for Hong Kong and Macao passenger terminals, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, as well as the “soft connectivity” of the “Digital Bay Area” construction, Guangdong-Hong Kong cross-border facilitation, Bay Area standards, and talent endorsement mechanisms. Guangdong will also solidly promote the construction of major cooperation platforms such as Hengqin, Nansha, and Qianhai, and continue to explore the possibility of Guangdong Free Trade Zone as one of the six pilot areas in China to align with international high-standard institutional opening-up, while continuing to comprehensively deepen reform and opening up. In the new year, Guangdong will maintain its consistent pragmatic approach and continue to explore pathways to achieve high-quality development.
As the first province in the country to surpass a GDP of 13 trillion yuan, Guangdong must embrace an innovative and creative spirit, rather than cling to a conservative mindset, in order to continue to stimulate the three major drivers of reform, opening-up, and innovation, and “reinvent a new Guangdong.”
