With the opening of a high-speed railway linking Jiangxi's Ganzhou and Guangdong's Shenzhen, Jiangxi province has accelerated its integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and exchanges and cooperation between the two regions are continuously being deepened, according to Yin Hong, Party secretary of the province.

Yin made the remarks at the Jiangxi-GBA Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Conference held in Shenzhen on Monday, adding that the GBA is one of the most dynamic economies in the country and stands at the forefront of China's reform and opening-up.

Yin welcomed entrepreneurs to invest and start businesses in Jiangxi, and seize opportunities to share in the dividends of the province. He also expressed the hope they could deepen cooperation with provincial companies in such fields as new industries, modern agriculture, modern logistics, finance and tourism.

A signing ceremony for key projects was held during the conference, with 74 cooperation projects signed, worth a total investment of 64.13 billion yuan ($9.01 billion).They are mainly in key industries like electronic information, equipment manufacturing, new energy and new materials.

Conference attendees included representatives from financial institutions and enterprises such as Fortune Global 500 companies, multinational corporations and specialized innovation firms.

Xia Wenyong, vice-governor of Jiangxi, said the province has a complete range of industries and a complete system, with annual industrial added value exceeding 1 trillion yuan for two consecutive years. He noted that both traditional and emerging industries in the province have good advantages and support capabilities for receiving industrial transfer from the GBA.

At present, Jiangxi is focused on building 12 key industry chains, including electronic information, non-ferrous metals and equipment manufacturing. It is also striving to nurture six advanced manufacturing clusters, including electronic information, copper-based new materials and chemical new materials.

Electronic information accounts for Jiangxi's first 1 trillion-yuan worth of industry. "In recent years, we have received industrial transfer from the GBA, and promoted the leapfrog development of the electronic information industry," Xia said.

In 2023, the industry achieved revenue of 1.08 trillion yuan, ranking among the top in the country. This year's revenue is expected to exceed 1.2 trillion yuan. Moving forward, Xia said Jiangxi will focus on subsectors of the industry, such as mobile intelligent terminals, semiconductor lighting, electronic materials, future displays and virtual reality to promote the value chain of electronic information.

Xia invited GBA enterprises to choose Jiangxi for capacity expansion, renovation and product upgrading, and to join local companies in creating a national-level advanced manufacturing cluster for electronic information.

The Jiangxi-GBA economic and trade cooperation promotion conference was an important part of the 2024 Jiangxi-GBA Economic and Trade Activity Week. From Sept 1-4, the activity was held in Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao, to help Jiangxi deepen its internal and external opening-up and integrate into the construction of the GBA.The province has hosted the activity for 22 years.

In addition to the promotion conference, the event included several investment and talent attraction conferences, including the Jiangxi-GBA modern financial cooperation matchmaking conference on Sept 1.It attracted more than 150 representatives of large and listed enterprises, as well as well-known financial institutions and technology companies in the GBA.

Zou Changjun, a senior financial official of Jiangxi, expressed the hope that financial institutions in the GBA and other places would continue to support the high-quality development of Jiangxi's economy and finance by providing more resources in product innovation, preferential interest rate policies and risk resolution. "The financial authorities of Jiangxi will adopt more pragmatic measures to provide high-quality services and better environment for all parties to develop in the province, promoting the healthy interaction of the economy and finance," Zou said.

In recent years, construction of the GBA has achieved remarkable results, making progress toward building a world-class bay area and urban cluster. With less than 0.6 percent of China's land area, the GBA generates more than 11 percent of the nation's economic output. In particular, Shenzhen, as a core city of the GBA, has risen to become a center of innovation and opening-up while serving as a bench mark for innovative development.

Jiangxi and Guangdong are geographically close, with a long history of trade exchanges. Currently, Guangdong is the primary source of external investment for Jiangxi, generating more than 30 percent of the province's investment projects and funds. A large number of Guangdong-based enterprises, including Huawei, BYD, Luxshare Precision and Sunwoda, have made investments in Jiangxi, becoming important links in deepening cooperation between the two provinces.

Guangdong is also a popular destination for newcomers to seek development opportunities. More than 2.3 million people from Jiangxi are working in Guangdong and have established nearly 50,000 enterprises there.

Jiangxi, known as the "tungsten capital of the world", "rare earth kingdom", "lithium capital of Asia", and "copper capital of China", is rich in natural resources and has a complete industrial system, boasting 38 of 41 major industrial categories. Over the past two years, the province has promoted digital transformation of its manufacturing industry, fostering emerging industries such as electronic information, equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, aviation and biomedicine. It has also laid the groundwork for industries such as future materials, future energy, future biology and future health, striving to build a modern industrial system that reflects Jiangxi's characteristics and advantages.

Last year, the province's industrial added value totaled 1.12 trillion yuan. Strategic emerging industries and high-tech industries accounted for 28.1 percent and 39.5 percent of the industrial output above designated size, with 14 industries generating revenue that exceeded 100 billion yuan.

Additionally, Jiangxi has implemented comprehensive reform to fully unleash the momentum of innovation and support growth of its private economy. The province has built convenient platforms for government-business-enterprise connectivity and enhanced the convenience of corporate financing.

Jiangxi has 19 national development zones and 84 provincial-level development zones, which are important platforms for its high-quality development. It promotes reform and innovation in development zones, improving management and operation models, and is continuously enhancing the competitiveness of these zones.

As the only province in China bordering the Yangtze River Delta, the GBA and the Haixi Economic Zone, Jiangxi is promoting construction of inland open economy pilot zones while accelerating the establishment of major channels to other provinces and countries.

It is also boosting the creation of a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment, and pushing forward the building of entrepreneurship platforms and digital government.

Yi Yang and Xi Ruoshui contributed to the story.