To welcome the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, Guangzhou hosted the "Celebrating APEC · Melodies of Friendship" Business Exchange Salon on October 30. Over 100 consular officials, chamber representatives and business figures from APEC economies gathered at Liede International Neighborhood in Tianhe District for cross-border business matching.
Data from the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce shows the city's economy maintained steady upward momentum across the first three quarters, with GDP expanding 5.7 percent year-on-year. By September 2026, enterprises from other APEC member economies had set up a total of 54,000 business entities in Guangzhou. Actual utilized foreign capital from these firms reached nearly 820 billion yuan, accounting for 82.8 percent of the city's aggregate.
Given Guangzhou's deep-rooted economic ties with APEC member economies, business representatives attending the salon not only voiced their expectations for the forthcoming meeting, but also shared their outlook for future cooperation with Guangzhou and other cities across Guangdong Province.
Sergey Shchetkin, Attaché of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Guangzhou, expressed his hopes for fruitful dialogue among APEC leaders. "It would be a great opportunity for them to make some deals or to sign contracts with local companies," he noted, highlighting Guangdong's status as a key hub for artificial intelligence, new-energy vehicles and robotics.
Leonardo Gutiérrez, Consul for Economic and Trade Promotion at the Consulate General of Mexico in Guangzhou, pointed to Guangdong's sizable population and huge domestic market as major assets for bilateral ties. He stated that his side was ready to assist Guangdong-based firms seeking partners and looking to navigate tax and commercial frameworks if they plan to launch operations in Mexico.
Enterprises based in Guangzhou also took the floor during the salon. Tec-Do, an AI-driven marketing firm leveraging self-developed large-language models and its Navos Pro agent system, has supported hundreds of thousands of brands to expand into consumer markets across APEC economies. Xpeng, whose sales network covers 82 countries and regions worldwide, pledged to roll out more vehicle models internationally and bring Chinese intelligent driving to more overseas users.
The salon is jointly hosted by the Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office, Tianhe District Government Office, Administration Committee of Tianhe CBD, Liede Subdistrict Office and GICC.
Reporter | Dong Han
Script | Dong Han
Filming | Xu Anrui
Video editor & Poster | Xu Anrui
