A special press conference for provincial departments of the fifth session of the 14th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress in Guangzhou on January 26, 2026. (Photo: Guo Hongda)
The fifth session of the 14th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress held a special press conference for provincial departments on January 26.
Officials from Guangdong's principal departments answered reporters' questions on the theme of "creating new advantages and achieving new breakthroughs."
Gong Zhenzhi, Director-General of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, told reporters that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2020-2025), comprehensive progress has been made in education, healthcare, social security, childcare, and other social welfare initiatives.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Guangdong will further increase investment in social welfare and strengthen its focus on human resource development and comprehensive people's development.
He listed six areas of emphasis: high-quality and full employment, education that meets public needs, the construction of a healthy Guangdong, high-quality population development, the equalization of basic public services, and the social security network.
Zeng Jinze, Director-General of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province, highlighted the progress in the high-quality development of the provincial manufacturing industry last year.
Industry and information services contributed approximately half of the GDP growth. The added value of advanced manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing accounted for over 50% and 30% of the total added value of industrial enterprises above designated size, respectively.
Taking artificial intelligence (AI) as an example, Zeng noted that by 2025, the scale of Guangdong's core artificial intelligence industry is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan, achieving high-speed growth of over 40%, accounting for a quarter of the national total.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong will focus on traditional industries, emerging sectors such as new materials, intelligent robots, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, aerospace, and future industries like sixth-generation mobile communications and embodied intelligence.
Zhang Jingsong, Director-General of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, emphasized that Guangdong's foreign trade grew at an average annual rate of 6% during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Its total foreign trade reached 9.49 trillion yuan, a 4.4% increase, ranking first in the country for 40 consecutive years by 2025.
In 2026, Guangdong will focus on promoting the high-quality development of foreign trade.
The province will explore diversified markets, continuing to cultivate traditional markets such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, while vigorously expanding into emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, and Africa.
The province will prioritize hosting the Canton Fair and the "Guangdong Trade Global" overseas exhibitions to fully support enterprises in securing orders abroad.
Other priorities will include building advantageous export industrial clusters, expanding imports, cultivating new drivers of foreign trade growth, and strengthening the main players in foreign trade.
Reporter | Zhang Ruijun
Editor | Ouyang Yan, Yuan Zixiang, James Campion, Shen He
