Monthly domestic road shows and quarterly global promotions are either in the pipeline or planned, he said, adding that more investment promotion agencies will be set up in Europe, the Middle East and other regions.

Hong said with the idea that "projects are the lifeline", Guangzhou will focus on developing the manufacturing industry and has selected a list of target companies and mapped industrial domains.

"The city will keep close eyes on strategic industrial clusters and make promotions precise for target industrial chains," Hong said.

Thousands of containers are stored at Nansha Port in Guangzhou. CHINA DAILY

Data from Guangzhou's commerce bureau showed that in 2022, Guangzhou signed investment contracts for 1,565 projects, up 35.3 percent from 2021.

The number of newly registered projects was 1,767 in 2022, up 39.5 percent year-on-year. In 2022, Guangzhou utilized foreign investment of 57.4 billion yuan, up 5.7 percent from 2021.

A total of 335 Global Fortune 500 companies had invested in 1,658 projects in Guangzhou by the end of 2022.

With a permanent resident population of more than 18 million plus a floating population exceeding 4 million, Guangzhou's GDP reached 2.88 trillion yuan in 2022.

Investment in the manufacturing sector has maintained a level of more than 400 billion yuan for four years. Meanwhile, its total retail sales of consumer goods and foreign trade volume both surpassed 1 trillion yuan.

The city also boasted more than 12,300 high-tech companies by the end of 2022, according to official statistics.