The Guangdong delegation to the ongoing National People's Congress held an open day event on Thursday afternoon, when NPC deputies from the province's political and business communities shared their insights with the media.

This year, Guangdong will put emphasis on promoting emerging industries such as integrated circuits, new energy vehicles, the low-altitude economy and commercial spaceflight. The province will place particular focus on cultivating future industries, such as biomanufacturing, quantum technology, embodied intelligence, and 6G. Additionally, Guangdong will vigorously implement the "Artificial Intelligence Plus" initiative, aiming to stay ahead of the curve and position itself better to accelerate development, especially in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics.

Zhang Hu, executive vice-governor of Guangdong

We will focus on developing 15 strategic industry clusters with Guangzhou's characteristic advantages, six future industries and eight modern service industries, to develop Guangzhou into a key stronghold for new quality productive forces. Guangzhou will concentrate on platform construction, creating industrial bases that cover a combined area of 667 hectares and generate a total of at least 100 billion yuan ($13.79 billion) in output value. Other efforts include accelerating the development of key areas such as Nansha, the city's eastern center and northern growth area, and national-level economic development zones. We will build a batch of leading industrial parks, promote the formation of industry clusters, and enhance the quality and efficiency of the parks, providing strong support for advancing high-quality development and modernization.

Guo Yonghang, Guangzhou's Party secretary

Shenzhen will lead industrial upgrading through technological innovation, enhancing 20 strategic emerging industrial clusters and eight future industries. The city will actively invest in new sectors such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the low-altitude economy and space technologies, aiming to gain the upper hand in the global technological and industrial landscape. Shenzhen will continue to perfect the new-type holistic nationwide resources-mobilizing system, advance the construction of major innovation platforms such as the Greater Bay Area National Center of Technology Innovation and Pengcheng Laboratory, and create a world-class technological innovation ecosystem and talent development environment. This is all conducive to Shenzhen's goal of becoming a globally influential industrial and technological innovation center.

Qin Weizhong, Shenzhen mayor

Guangdong has vigorously fostered the marine industry in recent years, propelling the marine economy into the fast lane. The province's marine GDP surpassed 2 trillion yuan ($275.86 billion) in 2024, maintaining its leading position in the country for 30 consecutive years, and accounting for about one-fifth of the national total. We will continue to advance the development of Guangzhou as a capital of marine innovation and Shenzhen as a global marine center city. We will also support cities including Zhuhai, Shantou and Zhanjiang to leverage their strengths to build distinctive modern sponge cities.

Ai Xuefeng, head of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission

In an industry-based development approach, Maoming is accelerating the high-quality development program for Guangdong counties, towns and villages. The city was rated as excellent in an evaluation by the provincial government last May. In 2024, Maoming's urbanization rate of the permanent population increased by 3 percentage points over 2021. By industrializing agriculture, Maoming established 10 agricultural industry clusters in 2024, each capable of generating at least 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) in annual operating revenue. The total value of the whole industry chains involving lychee, longan, agarwood, huajuhong (Tomentose pummelo peel), Sanhua plum, and tilapia exceeded 55 billion yuan last year.

Wang Xiongfei, Maoming mayor

As a powerhouse of intelligent connected vehicles and one of the first movers in the low-altitude economy, Guangdong has strategic advantages and a solid industrial foundation for developing the flying vehicle industry. It is time to seize the momentum and accelerate integrated development. We hope government departments can implement strategies combining institutional innovation, industrial ecosystem, and scenario-driven applications to promote the integrated development of flying vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles.

Feng Xingya, chairman of GAC Group