GAETDZ to Achieve an Interactive Development

Guangxi, not only the province in China nearest to ASEAN but also the permanent venue of China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), has developed into the frontier gateway to China-ASEAN cooperation; meanwhile, Guangxi ASEAN Economic and Technological Development Zone (GAETDZ), located in Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone which is a core region close to ASEAN, has also become the most typical example for facilitating the development of China-ASEAN economic cooperation.

GAETDZ (formerly known as Guangxi Wuming Overseas Chinese Farm), set up in 2004, was officially approved to be listed as one of the state-level economic and technological development zones in 2013. As early as 1960s, more than 12 thousand returned overseas Chinese from ten ASEAN countries including Indonesia and Vietnam were properly relocated in Guangxi Wuming Overseas Chinese Farm, the largest one of its kind in China. According to the statistics, there are still over 7,000 returned overseas Chinese and their families living in GAETDZ now, thus making distinctive ASEAN culture and valuable “ASEAN resources” -- which refer to deep-seated relative relationships with and close information contacts with their relatives and friends in over 30 countries and regions, including ten ASEAN countries -- accessible to the zone.

“The development of GAETDZ mainly relies on two ‘trump cards”: one is returned overseas Chinese, and the other ASEAN resources,” said Mr. He Shanghan, Director of GAETDZ Administrative Committee. He added that, apart from ASEAN resources, GAETDZ is also superior in space resources, ecological environment and industrial cluster. 

Faced with the slowdown of the Chinese economy, the development strategy of keeping industry the first priority, achieving the interactive development of four major projects and pursuing leapfrog development was put forward by GAETDZ on the basis of its own competitive strengths and characteristics, aiming at proactively eliminating obstacles to development on the road ahead. As set out in the development strategy, the synergetic development of Integrated Industries Park, Nanning Educational Park, Modern Agriculture Demonstration Site and Cultural Tourism & Resort Area will be achieved, and thereby to give a boost to the creation of a development zone integrating agriculture, industry and modern service industry.

Integrated Industries Park: To optimize industrial layout qualitatively and quantitatively

For the past few years, industry has been playing a dominant role in the development of GAETDZ, where an industrial layout made up of three pillar industries -- food processing, biological medicine and machinery manufacturing -- has been created. In addition, a total of over 280 enterprises（including 82 above a designated size） like Budweiser beer, Shuanghui Group, COFCO and Yili Group have established their branches in the zone, a reflection of competitive advantages possessed by the industrial cluster. It is worth mentioning that greater emphasis has been placed on the introduction of food processing and emerging industries since 2015, when several 100-million-yuan major projects, such as Lanzhou SCISKY Green High-polymer Material Industrial Park, Guangdong Kolea Modern Agricultural Equipment Co., Ltd., China Resources Beer (Holdings) Co., Ltd., and Brilliance Auto, settled in successively.

Nanning Educational Park: To pursue interactive development industry-university-research cooperation

Nanning Educational Park is projected to be built in the area between Wuming County and GAETDZ, covering 31.27 square kilometers ( 19.09 square kilometers in GAETDZ included), according to Nanning’s development planning. 

By connecting campus training base, enterprise training base, scientific and technological achievements incubator, and productive practice base of district sharing, the total population in the park is predicted to be within a range from 330 thousand to 370 thousand, and 25-30 universities and colleges could move in. As of now, Guangxi Occasional Skills Training Base, with the total investment of one billion yuan and the land area of 20 hectares, has been set up in GAETDZ, followed by seven colleges. It is foreseeable that preliminary achievement will be made in the park characterized by elementary education, vocational education and higher education in the future.

Modern Agriculture Demonstration Site: To build an urban vegetable basket project

Developing agriculture can be seen as one the main tasks of GAETDZ, where an 88-square-kilometer agriculture demonstration area has been planned; however, failing in a large-scale operation continues to hamper the development of GAETDZ’s agriculture. To resolve this issue, the strategy of giving priority to agriculture with distinctive features, agritourism farm and large-scale breeding was unveiled, by virtue of “One-hour Economic Circle” based on Nanning, the provincial city of Guangxi. At present, a number of agricultural enterprises and agricultural science & research items, including the agricultural scientific research base of Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangxi Central Fruit Station, Guangxi Central Sericulture Station, and Guangxi Agriculture Technology Promotion Station, have been set up here. GAETDZ has become the largest production base in Guangxi for watermelon and melon and American grape, as well as the largest vegetable base serving Nanning. Of particular note is that GAETDZ was designated as the supply center of vegetables and fruits for the 45th World Gymnastics Championships held in Nanning in 2014.

Cultural Tourism & Resort Area: To construct a theme park oriented towards ASEAN

GAETDZ geographically boasts karst landform, with picturesque scenery. To develop cultural tourism by taking full advantage of favorable ecological resources, a cultural tourism & resort area, covering more than 20 square kilometers, was planned for construction.

Mr. He noted that efforts were made to facilitate the implementation of a major cultural tourism item called “Perfect World” ahead of schedule in 2015. “Perfect World is funded by Village Roadshow, the second largest theme-park operator in Australia, and Guangxi Investment Group, with the total investment of 50 billion yuan, and it is supposed to be completed in ten years. If completed, 3-5 million visitors would be attracted to this site per year.” 

Source: China-ASEAN Panorama