Living legacy of maritime trade

A major manufacturing city in South China, Foshan has positioned itself well as one of the hubs in the nation's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative.

"Historically speaking, Foshan played an active part in the ancient trade route as a producer and exporter of porcelain and silk as well as its geographical proximity to Guangzhou," said Zhou Zhitong, chief of the bureau of commerce of Foshan.

Guangzhou was a major trade port, while Foshan supplied products desired around the world.

The ancient Maritime Silk Road was a trade route that carried goods from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Africa then on to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

The new version of the Maritime Silk Road is an initiative Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed in 2013.

"With our traditional and present position as a key manufacturing hub in Guangdong, we will play an even bigger part in the nation's initiative," he said.

"We will seek to strengthen trade ties and industrial cooperation with the regions along the route and we will encourage more local enterprises to invest there," he added.

Zhou said that tens of thousands of overseas Chinese of Foshan origin in those regions as well as industrial zones the city has developed for investors and the city's easy access to the resources of Guangzhou will be among Foshan's advantages for greater involvement in the national initiative.

The city had 79 projects funded by businesses along the route from 2012 to 2014. The agreed investment of the projects reached $763.60 million, accounting for 7.2 percent of the city's total. The actual investment was $447.35 million in the three years, 5.9 percent of the city's total, according to local statistics.

Foshan's foreign trade with Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and Africa totaled $22.35 billion in 2014.

Exports in the year were $12.52 billion. The value of imports in the period was $9.83 billion.

Businesspeople in the city had invested $269 million in 35 projects in regions along the trade route by 2014.

According to Zhou, local household appliances giant Midea Group alone has projects in Vietnam, Thailand, India and Egypt with total investment of $124.9 million.

zhanlisheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/10/2015 page15)