The authorities in south China's Guangdong Province have stepped up financial and policy support to help local businesses improve competitiveness and access overseas markets.
Amid a national push toward industrial transformation and upgrade, Guangdong's businesses are investing heavily to build smart factories.
"With an annual technological transformation investment of more than 200 million yuan (about 28 million U.S. dollars), we have already purchased over 3,000 robots and automatic equipment, gradually transitioning our company toward automatic, intelligent and digital manufacturing," said Chen Guanghua, deputy director of technology management of Guangdong Xinbao Electrical Appliances Holdings based in Shunde District of Guangdong.
As significant investments in technological upgrades create substantial financial pressure for businesses, the Agricultural Bank of China has provided them with more than 1.4 billion yuan (about 195 million U.S. dollars) in credit funds, covering working capital loans, letters of credit, cross-border financing, and trade finance.
In addition, the provincial government has established a Private Sector Development Bureau dedicated to improving international competitiveness of local private entities.
Since the beginning of this year, the local authorities have intensified efforts to help businesses secure overseas orders and build overseas bases for research and development, production, logistics, and storage.
"Based on feedbacks from the companies, they are quite interested in markets along the Belt and Road, including Central Asia and the Middle East. We have organized delegations comprising representatives of the government, businesses, and industry associations to visit these regions. We will ramp up our efforts to organize such economic and trade tours and help businesses explore overseas markets," said Han Zhibang, an official of the Bureau of Economic Promotion of Shunde District.
China's Guangdong backs exporters with financial, policy support
