The first session of the 17th Haizhu District People's Congress opens on Oct 26. [Photo/WeChat account: gzhzfb]

The first session of the 17th Haizhu District People's Congress opened on Oct 26 and 351 deputies attended the meeting. 

The district's achievements in the past five years were reviewed and main development targets in the next five years were also released. 

Haizhu's GDP in 2020 exceeded 200 billion yuan ($31.26 billion) with an average annual growth rate of 6.3 percent in the past five years. The figure in the first three quarters of 2021 increased by 10.4 percent year on year, ranking fourth in Guangzhou and first in the downtown area in terms of the growth rate.

Efforts have been devoted to upgrading the ecological environment and the district has now ranked second in Guangzhou for its regional environmental competitiveness.

Officials put forward during the meeting that Haizhu will keep casting eyes on high-quality development in the next five years and make every effort to promote the development of artificial intelligence and the digital economy, and continue striving to turn the district into a dynamic, attractive and competitive one.

Haizhu is expected to experience a 6 percent annual increase of GDP, an 8 percent increase of fixed asset investment and an 8 percent annual increase of the general public budget revenue.

The Pazhou artificial intelligence and digital economy pilot zone will be built into a world-class digital economy demonstration zone while the Sun Yat-sen University International Innovation Valley will be built into the hub for global scientific communication and cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which is a cluster for innovation and entrepreneurship as well as a demonstration base for ecological innovation. 

The district is set to build a modern industrial system with six pillar industries such as the new generation of information technology service industry, the modern commerce and trade industry and the smart construction industry.