Guangzhou becomes top investment destination for Japanese-funded companies

The Tokyo Session of the 10th China Guangzhou International Investment Conference was held in conjunction at Tokyo and Guangzhou on March 22. Representatives from over 30 companies , including Panasonic, Itochu Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Lawson, Daikin and Geotech, attended the event.

According to Hong Qian,  the secretary general of Guangzhou Municipal Pelple’s Government and the director general of Guangzhou Bureau of Commerce, Guangzhou has more than 50,000 foreign-funded enterprises and 345 Fortune Global 500 companies in total. In 2023, the number of newly added foreign-funded enterprises exceeded 6,600,  with a year-on-year increase of 90%, hitting a record high. Among them, there were 26 new investment enterprises from Japan in Guangzhou, increasing 44.4% on a year-on-year basis. Hong invited more Japanese companies to invest in Guangzhou.

Panasonic Group has been increasing its investments in Guangzhou since 1992. As one of the key regions for Panasonic Group's business in China, the annual sales of its five companies in Guangzhou have reached over 11 billion yuan.

Tetsuro Homma, the president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China (CJCCI) and Executive Vice President of Panasonic Corporation, expressed via the video that he witnessed the rapid development and changes of Guangzhou and deeply felt the city's continuous improvement of the business environment and the determination to create a high-level open environment for foreign investment.

According to Okada Eiji, director general of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Guangzhou (South China), Guangzhou is the only city in the world with factories of the three major Japanese automotive giants—Toyota, Honda and Nissan, which reflects the charm of the city. He believed that Guangzhou was an attractive investment destination for Japanese manufacturing and service enterprises since Guangzhou was building an international consumer city and also a pilot zone for expanding the service industry.