Guangdong's pilot free trade zones have played an important role in the province's reform and opening up, deepening cooperation between Guangdong province and Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The province, window of China's reform and opening up, celebrates its fourth anniversary of the establishment of the three pilot free trade zones in late April and demonstrates its determination to open wider to the outside world and speed up the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the years to come, said a statement released by Guangdong Provincial Office of Pilot Free Trade Zones on Thursday.

The province's pilot free trade zones include Nansha in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, Qianhai in Shenzhen special economic zone and Hengqin in Zhuhai special economic zone.

According to the statement, more than 250,000 new companies were registered in the province's free trades zones between April of 2015 and December of 2018.

Meanwhile the three free trade zones had used an actual foreign investment of more than $18.6 billion between April 2015 and December 2018, with an average annual growth of 28.3 percent, playing a integral part in the economic construction of Guangdong, which heavily relies on foreign-oriented economy, the statement said.

The free trade zones also reached a foreign trade volume of more than 902.67 billion yuan ($134.73 billion) in the past four years, accounting for 12.6 percent of the province's total.

A total of 70 companies from the top 500 in the world have established 309 production facilities and subsidiaries in the free trade zones so far, the statement said.

Guangdong's pilot free trade zones have now become new engines for the sustainable economic growth in Guangdong province, one of the country's economic powerhouses, according to the statement.

Meanwhile the free trade zones have helped further expand the cooperation between Guangdong and neighboring Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, it said.