During a recent press conference in Nanning on October 24, Bai Songtao, the Director of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission, highlighted the region’s significant advancements in establishing cross-regional and cross-border industrial and supply chains. Since May 2023, Guangxi has attracted over 90 billion RMB in investments for cross-regional and cross-border industrial chain projects, particularly in its border and coastal industrial parks.

Guangxi stands out as the only Chinese province that shares land and sea borders with ASEAN countries. The region is committed to enhancing open cooperation with ASEAN nations, rapidly advancing the development of border coastal industrial parks and the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone. In the first three quarters of this year, industrial investments in these parks increased by 35%, while those in the China-ASEAN Cooperation Zone rose by 12.6%. Additionally, the gross industrial output value for these areas also saw healthy growth, with increases of 12.3% and 9.7%, respectively.

Leveraging the platform of its border coastal industrial parks, Guangxi is accelerating its industrial structure optimization and upgrading, focusing on nurturing distinctive and emerging industries such as equipment manufacturing, new materials, electronic information, and light textile industries. Nanning is rapidly developing the China-ASEAN Cross-Border Industry Integration Development Cooperation Zone, attracting new energy battery projects from companies like BYD and Longdian Huaxin. The Pingxiang-Ningming Trade Processing Park is also exploring an “import-export + industry” development model, successfully bringing in over 80 companies, including Haoyue Electric Vehicles and Xiangsheng Green Board.

Currently, Guangxi is working on creating a more convenient domestic and international dual circulation market. The region has been approved to establish the Nanning International Communication Business Import and Export Bureau and is developing a regional international postal express hub aimed at ASEAN.

Bai noted that Guangxi is working on building a highly connected and efficient three-dimensional network. During the first three quarters, major projects under the Western Land-Sea New Corridor saw investments totaling 61.6 billion RMB, while the Pinglu Canal received 16.85 billion RMB. The Chinese-side project of the Friendship Pass, a smart port at the China-Vietnam border, is expected to begin trial operations by the end of this year.

According to data from the Guangxi Commerce Department, Guangxi’s foreign trade scale has continued to expand this year, with notable success in tapping into emerging markets. In the first three quarters, imports and exports with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative grew by 14.7%, while trade with ASEAN nations rose by 18.2%.

Wang Yongchao, Director of the Guangxi Department of Industry and Information Technology, stated that in light of the rapid growth in exports of the “new three items” (electric passenger vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells), Guangxi will actively support enterprises in exploring international markets.