GUANGZHOU - China's manufacturing heartland Guangdong province has set a GDP growth target of about 5 percent for 2025, Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong said Wednesday.

Despite mounting external pressures and internal challenges, the GDP of the southern province was estimated to surpass 14 trillion yuan (about $1.9 trillion) in 2024, topping the country for 36 consecutive years, said Wang as he delivered a government work report at the annual session of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress.

 Foreign trade remains a key highlight of Guangdong's economy. The province's total import and export value is projected to exceed 9 trillion yuan in 2024, up 9.8 percent year on year, securing its position as the national leader in foreign trade for 39 consecutive years.

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Wu Qing, deputy head of the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, attributed Guangdong's robust foreign trade to the optimized structure of its trade, including a growing proportion of intermediate goods.

This highlights the province's pivotal role in ensuring the stability of global industrial and supply chains, he said.

Moreover, the booming cross-border e-commerce and the expanding export of high-tech products, such as automobiles, new displays, power batteries, home appliances and smart devices, have become key drivers of Guangdong' s foreign trade growth, Wu noted.

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Guangdong also saw a surge in business activity, with a net increase of nearly 980,000 business entities in 2024, bringing the total to over 19 million, including more than 8.3 million enterprises, the highest in the country, according to the work report.

Innovation remains a central pillar of Guangdong's development strategy. In 2024, the province's R&D expenditure was estimated at 510 billion yuan, reinforcing Guangdong's position as a national leader in innovation for eight consecutive years.

Emerging industries also saw remarkable growth, with output surging by 43 percent in new energy vehicles, 31.2 percent in industrial robots, 12.5 percent in smartphones, and 21 percent in integrated circuits.

Governor Wang underscored the province's resilience and potential despite the challenges.

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"The province's economy remains grounded on a solid foundation, supported by a robust structure, vibrant dynamism, and vast potential," Wang said, adding that the long-term positive trends supporting Guangdong's development remain unchanged.

For 2025, Guangdong's development priorities include expanding domestic demand by unlocking consumption and investment potential, consolidating the traditional strength of manufacturing while fostering new quality productive forces, enhancing technological innovation, and building a higher-standard open economy, he added.