Business environment

A report released by global auditor KPMG in April 2019 said that the business environment in the Guangdong FTZ is excellent, especially when it comes to starting a business, power acquisition and contract enforcement, and ranks among the top 15 globally. The report looked at the World Bank's ease of doing business indexes, a system it used to assess business environment across 190 economies and selected cities.

The Guangdong FTZ has also performed well in terms of cross-border trade, taxation and access to loans, according to KPMG's report.

To further improve the business environment, the management of the FTZ said optimization will continue in terms of making it easier for companies to attain business registrations and construction permits, carry out cross-border trading and pay taxes more efficiently.

For example, customs will further cut import and export clearance time to improve the efficiency of cross-border trading, according to the FTZ's management.

The FTZ also plans to set up express services for companies from Hong Kong and Macao to pay taxes and register real estate.

"The Guangdong FTZ has a special and irreplaceable position," said Wei Jianguo, former vice-minister of commerce. "I am optimistic that Guangdong will play a leading role in quality development in the next five years as its FTZ can make more breakthroughs."

He said Guangdong has a unique advantage in its manufacturing industry, forming the most sophisticated industrial chain in China. This will provide a strong base for its FTZ to achieve a deep integration of high-end manufacturing with modern services.