The opening ceremony of "Understanding China - GBA Dialogue" was held on April 
19 with the theme of "Chinese Modernization and New Opportunities for the 
World", aiming to help the world gain a better understanding of China and to 
provide a leg-up to the high-quality development of the Guangdong province and 
the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a whole.

"Achieving self-reliance in science and technology is the key to Chinese 
modernization."

As the host city of the Dialogue and the central city of the GBA, Guangzhou is 
an important pillar in promoting self-reliance and self-improvement in science 
and technology innovation in the GBA and across China.

Through the in-depth implementation of the innovation-driven development 
strategy in recent years, Guangzhou has witnessed major changes in the overall 
landscape of its scientific and technological strength, climbing the global 
innovation ladder as the tenth in the Nature Index 2022 Science Cities and with 
the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong" science and technology cluster ranking 
second for three consecutive years in the Global Innovation Index; the city has 
also rendered major breakthroughs in strategic technologies with the listing 
and operation of national strategic science and technology platforms such as 
the Guangzhou Laboratory and the GBA National Technology Innovation Center. 
Guangzhou is flexing its muscles in front of the world with its robust 
innovation capacity and booming industrial vitality.

At the same time, Guangzhou is fully leveraging the supporting and leading role 
of technological innovation in the high-quality development of mega cities, to 
strengthen the cultivation of enterprise innovation entities, and to 
continuously strengthen and expand the technology enterprise matrix. Among the 
145 domestic listed companies in the city, 108 are high-tech enterprises, 
accounting for 75%. A level-based technology enterprise cultivation system has 
been initially formed with high-tech enterprises as the major stakeholder and 
technology-based SMEs as the backup force.

At present, Guangzhou has pressed the acceleration button on a series of 
independent landmark and leading scientific and technological projects, 
building a strong momentum for achieving high-quality development. As the 
permanent site of the GBA Science Forum, the city is home to China's first full 
industrial chain commercial aerospace industrialization base, the cold spring 
ecosystem, the national engineering research center for natural gas hydrate 
exploration and development, hyper-sonic wind tunnels, and the extreme marine 
environmental research facility with its preliminary work underway.

"Chinese modernization should not follow the path that leads to the real 
economy being sidelined and must accelerate the construction of a modern 
industrial system underlined by it."

For many global guests who have participated in this year's event, the 
420-square-meter "Baiyun Heart", an ultra high-definition large screen on the 
highway from Baiyun Airport to downtown Guangzhou, has become a new window for 
them to observe the development of the city. This screen is not only an 
embodiment of Guangzhou's technological advantages in this industry, but is 
also a strong testimony to Guangzhou's adherence to the principle of 
"manufacturing as the fulcrum" and its focus on developing the real economy.

The focus of high-quality development lies in the manufacturing industry. 
Despite complex situations and severe challenges in recent years, Guangzhou has 
always regarded the manufacturing industry as the core driving force for 
economic development. 

"China's reform and opening-up policy will remain unchanged over the long term 
and will never close its door to the world."

With a series of events in this year's Dialogue such as round-tables for 
business leaders, special session on new opportunities of Chinese modernization 
and high-quality development in the GBA, business tours and immersive 
experience of the Chinese culture for foreign enterprise executives, Guangzhou 
has devoted all its efforts to building a remarkable platform for the world to 
"understand China", serving as an important window for the world to observe 
China and to showcase our achievements in reform and opening up.

Guangdong is the vanguard, pioneer and experimental area of reform and opening 
up, and plays an important and prominent role in the overall process of Chinese 
modernization. Taking the lead in opening- up, Guangzhou has been granted 
important status as a national central city and a core hub for the development 
of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In the tide of reform and 
opening-up in the new era, Guangzhou is continuing to actively promote the 
development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Nansha 
district of Guangzhou to deepen the comprehensive cooperation between 
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao facing the world.

From the Canton Fair to the Understanding China - GBA Dialogue, Guangzhou is 
actively accelerating the construction of an international exchange center 
through a series of international activities and conferences.

Source: Understanding China - GBA Dialogue