Guangdong updates policies to facilitate foreign investors

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China has been speeding up the development of its open economy. As the country's largest provincial economy, Guangdong Province has been trying out measures to facilitate overseas investment, including 10 heavyweight policies put into place at the end of last year.

Those policies have pledged perks like expanding market access and shoring up R&D for overseas investment. And eight months since Guangdong's new policies went into effect, investment have come from overseas.

German chemical giant BASF is investing 10 billion US dollars to build a production site in Guangdong. ExxonMobil is also pouring 10 billion US dollars in petrochemical projects in the province.

ExxonMobil invests in Guangdong Province. /VCG Photo

Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble is launching a 100-million-US dollar-plus innovation center in its capital city, Guangzhou.

P&G invests in Guangdong Province. /VCG Photo

SHV energy, the world's largest liquefied petroleum gas distributor, says the policy partly explains its deepening engagement in China.

Maarten Bijl, SHV Energy's Global VP and China CEO, told CGTN that through the policies, they have financial support, “If we build the LPG import terminal, we'll get financial incentive.”

Chen Yuehua, Deputy Director General at Guangdong's Department of Commerce, said the policies have been effective. “We've seen a good report card so far,” he said.

Guangzhou city. /VCG Photo

And now, the province is going one step further, updating new policies aiming to open up different industries, from manufacturing to services, and to foreign-owned businesses.

The policy also promises up to 100 million yuan's worth of financial support for projects that work well. Chen told CGTN that it was in answer to what the business need.

“The update is coming in a comparatively short time span as the economic situation is changing fast from rising cost for raw materials to the global trade situation,” Chen said.

“As we widely surveyed foreign businesses, we decided to help them with new targeted policies. These are also in line with what the country has been doing: continuing to open up.”

The updated policies will further open up the market and give overseas personnel even more reasons to stay in the Chinese mainland market.