Accounting for about one-tenth of China's economy, Guangdong generated 2.17 trillion RMB (268 billion USD) in 2005, setting a new record in China. Residents' deposits exceeded 2 trillion RMB, fiscal revenue hit 440 billion RMB, and foreign trade volume totaled 400 billion RMB.

Guangdong completed its 10th five-year plan period (2000-2005) with top performance and laid a solid foundation for a successful start of the 11th five-year plan (2006-2010).

In the past five years, the province reached an annual GDP growth of 13 percent. The provincial GDP hit 2.17 trillion RMB in 2005, doubling that of 2000 and exceeded 2 trillion RMB for the first time. In 2005, fixed asset investments, retail sales of consumer goods and the foreign trade volume in Guangdong amounted to 695.7 billion RMB, 788.3 billion RMB and 428.0 billion RMB, an increase of 16.3 percent, 15 percent, and 19.8 percent respectively over the previous year.

Breakthroughs were achieved in industrial restructuring. The proportion of added value of primary, secondary and tertiary industries shifted from 9.2: 46.5: 44.3 in 2000, to 6.3: 49.5: 44.2 in 2005. A group of large-scale automobile, petrochemical, steel, equipment manufacturing, shipbuilding industries were developed and a number of competitive enterprises started investing abroad.

A total of 35,000 foreign-direct-investment projects were settled in Guangdong in the past five years. So far, 176 of the world's top 500 multinationals have set up 581 ventures in the province. Guangdong has attracted 12.68 billion USD in overseas investments in total last year, a year-on-year rise of 26.6 percent.

The annual foreign trade volume growth reached 21 percent in the past five years while the import-export growth of the province totaled 238.16 billion USD in 2005, a year-on-year rise of 24.3 percent.

High-tech industry expanded rapidly. Guangdong ranked first in the country for the export of hi-tech commodities. In 2005, the province exported 83.59 billion USD worth of new and high-tech products, or 35.1 percent of its total exports and a year-on-year growth of 25.7 percent.

Living standards continued to improve. Urban per capita disposable income rose to 14,770 RMB, a year-on-year increase of eight percent. Moreover, aggregate individual bank deposits were more than two trillion RMB (US$250 billion) in 2005, rocketing 134 percent over 2000.

Tremendous achievements were made in strengthening basic industries and infrastructure development. Several key energy, transportation and communication construction projects were completed and new projects were launched as well, including the giant CNOOC-SHELL petrochemical project.

The development in Guangdong's western and eastern regions as well as the mountainous areas was accelerated. The Pan Pearl River Delta (PPRD) cooperation was also built up as well as the cooperation of Guangdong and other provinces in the areas of business, trade, transportation, labor and tourism.

Editor: Yan