Global Hakka bussinessmen join hands with Guangdong for development

Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, along with more efforts to promote coordinated development between urban and rural areas in Guangdong province have helped provide a broader stage for global entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, according to a senior government official.

"We are making every effort to create a better environment for overseas and domestic entrepreneurs to innovate and start businesses in Guangdong, as we always care about and attach importance to development of global Hakka business people," said Wang Weizhong, governor of Guangdong.

Wang made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the Sixth World Hakka Entrepreneurs Convention in Meizhou, in the eastern mountainous area of Guangdong, on Friday. Meizhou is home to thousands of Hakka people, whose ancestors were believed to have migrated from central China to the south centuries ago.

"We sincerely hope overseas Hakka entrepreneurs take part in the high-quality development of Guangdong, especially in coordinated development between urban and rural areas," said Wang.

On Friday, Hakka business representatives launched an action plan to support Guangdong's strategic "one hundred, one thousand and ten thousand" project, which aims to facilitate coordinated development between urban and rural areas.

The project earned its name because it targets the high-quality rural development of 10,000 villages out of 1,000 townships of 100 counties in Guangdong. It launched at the start of the year, resulting in Meizhou's GDP growing by 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2023.

Additionally, Meizhou introduced 179 industrial projects in the first eight months of this year, with a planned investment of 39.8 billion yuan ($5.44 billion), according to local government data.

Hakka people mainly live in relatively underdeveloped mountainous areas among the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Fujian and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Currently, there are more than 80,000 Hakka people living across more than 80 countries and regions.

"We always adhere to the real economy as the foundation and manufacturing as the leading industry, speeding up the development of an industrial technology innovation center with global influence," said Wang.

Guangdong, traditionally an economic powerhouse in South China, will continue to expand high-level opening-up and optimize the market-oriented, rule-of-law and internationalized business environment, according to Wang.

Five parallel sessions also took place in France, Canada, Argentina, Australia and Mauritius on Friday to further increase the global influence of the Hakka businessmen convention, which is poised to promote connnections and cooperation among Hakka business representatives and chambers of commerce globally.

The convention has been regarded as one of Guangdong's three major platforms that help the province to open its door wider and expand its Sino-foreign exchanges and cooperation, according to Guo Yile, deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong provincial government.

A series of activities including investment talks, academic forums, special lectures on Hakka culture, a Hakka cuisine festival and soccer competitions were also held on during the convention.