South China's Guangdong province showcased its ambitions to further enhance cooperation with Japanese businesses. A total of 68 projects were signed, valued at 116.622 billion yuan, during a Guangdong-Japan conference on June 12.
The conference served as a platform to promote dialogue and industrial matching between Guangdong and Japanese enterprises, attracting over 800 Japanese entrepreneurs from 210 Japanese-funded enterprises. Top officials in Guangdong encouraged increased Guangdong-Japanese cooperation and assured that the province would continue to create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized.
Huang Kunming, Secretary of CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, urged Japanese companies to seize opportunities in Guangdong's vast investment and development potential, particularly in industries like mechanical and electronic engineering, robotics, and AI, assuring them of Guangdong's quality services and support for their growth.
Guangdong is the largest trading province in terms of cooperation between China and Japan. From January to April this year, Guangdong's total imports and exports with Japan reached 144.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.36%, surpassing the growth rate of Guangdong's overall foreign trade. During the same period, Guangdong's actual use of Japanese investment increased significantly by over 48%.
Many well-known Japanese companies, such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi, have made long-term investments in Guangdong and are deeply integrated into the local industrial chains.
Wang Weizhong, Governor of Guangdong, delivered a keynote speech during the conference. Wang emphasized that Guangdong would steadfastly expand high-level openness and create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, providing efficient and high-quality services for foreign-funded enterprises, including Japanese ones, in Guangdong.
Japanese participants expressed ongoing confidence in China's and Guangdong's development prospects and anticipated strengthening business cooperation through this mission.
Takahiro Take, Mizuho Financial Group's Executive Vice President, stated that Japanese companies' commitment to their operations in China is unwavering. He noted that amid rising global geopolitical risks, US tariff policies, and macroeconomic uncertainties, Chinese and Japanese enterprises should collaborate to create new business and investment opportunities, overcome challenges, and achieve mutual benefits.
"For Japanese enterprises, this conference is a great opportunity to establish connections with Chinese-funded enterprises," emphasized Take.
Reporter: Hu Nan, Guo Chuhua
Script: Guo Chuhua
Photo&Video: Pan Jiajun
Editor: James, Shen He
