Thrive with GBA | Greater Bay Area held conference in Paris to further ties with French companies

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May 27, 2024, 05:13 ET

GUANGZHOU, China, May 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- News report from GDToday

Organized by Guangdong, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Europe (France) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference was held in Paris on May 24 (local time).

More than 400 representatives from French industrial and commercial circles attended the conference.

"This is a very important event, which put in contact with different companies, even new companies," said Gilles-Henry Garault, Vice-President and President of the International Commission, Encouragement Society for Industry in France. He indicated that the GBA can be one of the first economic centers in the world.

At present, about 1/3 of the French companies in China have chosen to settle in Guangdong, including EDF Energy, Danone and Sanofi. In Garault's opinion, the GBA is the first choice for foreign companies to enter China.

According to the data published by Guangdong Sub-Administration of General Administration of Customs of China, in Q1 this year, trade volume between France and the province of Guangdong reached 24.86 billion RMB, increasing 11.1% year-on-year.

"I have been to the GBA many times since I became the CEO of Airbus China in 2003." said Norbert Ducrot, President of Wavelandes, "I discovered that the GBA is a fantastic region with a huge population and market. This year is very important because it's the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between China and France."

In the beginning of May, both China and France made a joint declaration on enhancing global governance cooperation on artificial intelligence.

According to a ranking published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster has been listed the second for the past 4 years.

Ducrot indicated that the GBA is the best place for both France and China to launch projects in the fields of software and hardware, electronics domains, and artificial intelligence, as this region has developed tech businesses and abundant resources of talents.

"The conference reflects the remarkable achievement of economic development in China," said Roger Sebbagh, Special Adviser of French President. He indicated that he would like to play a role in bridging France and China in the future.

In his opinion, cooperation between France and China is a win-win cooperation and he believes that the collaboration will bring positive influence to other countries and promote their development.

According to preliminary statistics, 36 bilateral investment and trade cooperation projects between France (and Europe) and Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are reached with a total value of 3.22 billion US dollars in this conference. Among them, France (and Europe) will invest 1.59 billion US dollars in the GBA, while the GBA will invest 1.47 billion US dollars in France (and Europe).