In September 2025, the 2025 China International Concrete Expo will make its grand debut in Guangzhou. This marks the first time that the China Concrete Expo is expanding southward to Guangdong, embracing the most economically dynamic and innovation-driven region of China—the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The Unique Appeal of the Greater Bay Area

The enduring development charm of the Greater Bay Area has captured our attention.

Strategic Location & Connectivity

Located in southern China, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area boasts the world’s largest cluster of seaports and airports. This geographic advantage has positioned the region as one of the world’s largest logistics hubs, serving as a critical link between domestic and international markets. The flow of people, goods, capital, information, intelligence, and computing power forms the foundation of the region’s technological innovation ecosystem.

Influenced by factors such as "one country, two systems, three customs zones, and three currencies," the Greater Bay Area is actively integrating various innovation resources. It is aligning itself with China’s "Belt and Road Initiative" and the global innovation network, striving to become a gateway hub for international collaboration. Against the backdrop of continuous technological advancement, the integration of technology with modern finance, real economy, and production factors has reached unprecedented levels.

This synergy has accelerated the digitalization, networking, and intelligence-driven transformation of industries, creating unparalleled opportunities for industrial development. The emergence of new technologies, business models, and industries is reshaping global economic growth dynamics, injecting powerful new momentum into the market.

Massive Economic Scale

Since 2023, the total GDP of the Greater Bay Area has surpassed CNY 14 trillion, making it comparable to the world's 10th largest economy. Its development speed, scale, and growth potential rank among the top of the world’s four major bay areas. While advancing rapidly, the Greater Bay Area has consistently maintained a strong focus on real economy-driven development, with manufacturing at its core. It has made remarkable strides in establishing a modern industrial system. Currently, the region boasts a diverse and robust industrial ecosystem, including emerging industries such as new energy, ultra-high-definition displays, high-end equipment manufacturing, and biopharmaceuticals, alongside traditional powerhouse industries like petrochemicals, integrated circuits, and infrastructure construction. These industries collectively drive the region’s remarkable growth and global competitiveness. The total foreign trade volume of the Greater Bay Area has exceeded USD 1.8 trillion.

In the first 10 months of 2024 amounted, the total foreign trade value of the nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area reached CNY 7.22 trillion, reflecting an 11% year-on-year growth, this growth rate was 5.8 percentage points higher than the national average growth rate, and accounted for 20% of the country's total import and export value during the same period. In particular, in terms of high-end equipment exports, industrial robots, electric vehicles, ships and offshore engineering equipment have shown strong growth, demonstrating their importance in the global economy.

Outstanding Policy Advantages

The nine cities in the Pearl River Delta have been pioneers in China’s market-oriented reforms, boasting a well-developed market system. The inclusion of Hong Kong and Macao in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) development plan further enhances the region's advantages under the "One Country, Two Systems" framework. With policies aligned with international market standards, the GBA holds a significant position not only in China’s economy but also in global markets, showcasing immense influence and competitiveness.

Exceptional Innovation Capabilities

Cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou are home to numerous high-tech enterprises and account for 56% of the country's international patent applications. The share of R&D in Shenzhen exceeds 4%, and companies such as Huawei and Tencent are world leaders in technological innovation.

Seamless Transportation Network

The Greater Bay Area boasts an extensive highway and rail network, along with world-class port and airport clusters. Port container throughput exceeds 65 million TEUs , and the passenger throughput of the airports exceeds that of the world's three largest Bay Areas.

Leading in Openness & Internationalization

The Greater Bay Area ranks among China’s most open and internationally integrated regions: Hong Kong serves as a global financial, trade, and shipping hub, Macao is evolving into a world-class tourism and leisure center. Both special administrative regions play crucial roles in global economic integration.

Diverse Production Factors

The Greater Bay Area is home to both low-end and mid-end factors of production as well as high-end factors of production. It is a world-renowned product supply base, as well as the Asia-Pacific region's premier modern service center and the world's largest gaming and entertainment center.

Close Ties to the "Belt and Road Initiative"

The Greater Bay Area has strong connections with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries, playing a vital role in various sectors.

At present, we are promoting the construction of the "Five Connectivities" with the routes along the “Belt and Road”. The Greater Bay Area has already established a solid foundation in terms of policy and people-to-people connectivity, which is in line with the five major objectives of the “Belt and Road” construction: policy communication, facility connectivity, trade facilitation, financial integration and people-to-people connectivity. Taking Hong Kong as an example, according to the latest statistics, as of the end of 2022, 168 enterprises from the BRI co-construction countries have chosen to set up their regional headquarters in Hong Kong, and the number continues to grow at an average annual rate of more than 15%, demonstrating strong momentum of development.

Strong Financial Support

The Greater Bay Area, particularly Hong Kong, as an international financial hub, provides financing services for BRI countries. For example, through the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao trading platform, it will facilitate enterprises from countries along the BRI to list and raise capital here, thus enhancing the position of RMB in the international market. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with its vibrant economy, large consumer market, abundant talent pool, and high level of openness, the GBA has built a solid foundation for high-quality regional development.

Expansive Infrastructure Market

In 2023, Guangdong Province planned 1,530 key projects, with a total investment of CNY 8.4 trillion and an annual investment of CNY 1 trillion.

Among them, in terms of serving the construction of the Greater Bay Area, the annual investment plan for accelerating the construction of the “Greater Bay Area on Rails” totaled CNY 149.1 billion, arranging for 35 railroad projects, 8 comprehensive transportation hub projects, and 28 urban rail transit projects. Accelerate the Greater Bay Area infrastructure connectivity annual plan to invest CNY 490 billion, arrangements for comprehensive transportation, water conservancy, energy and other infrastructure projects totaling 371. Over CNY 600 billion is set to flow into GBA infrastructure development, fueling economic growth.

In recent years, Guangdong Province has made significant strides in infrastructure development across land, sea, air, and rail, accelerating the construction boom in the Greater Bay Area and fueling economic growth. According to this year's Guangdong Provincial Government Work Report, over the past five years, the province has initiated major projects such as the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang High-Speed Railway, Guangzhou-Shantou High-Speed Railway, Guangdong Eastern Intercity Railway, and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Corridor. Meanwhile, key infrastructure projects, including the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway and Nansha Bridge, have been completed. The "3+4+8" world-class airport cluster is taking shape, with airport passenger throughput and port container throughput ranking first nationwide. The total length of expressways in operation has reached 11,200 km, maintaining its national lead for nine consecutive years, while the total high-speed rail mileage has reached 2,367 km, achieving high-speed rail connectivity among all cities in the province.

World-Class Exhibition Industry

Large-scale exhibitions in the Greater Bay Area, such as the Canton Fair and the China Hi-Tech Fair, play a crucial role in fostering collaboration and exchange between domestic and international enterprises. These events serve as platforms to showcase the region's latest technological advancements, effectively supporting the deep integration of the Belt and Road Initiative and contributing to global economic prosperity and mutual benefit. The exhibition industry in the Greater Bay Area witnessed a strong recovery and growth in 2023. According to the “2023 Guangdong Exhibition Industry Development White Paper”, Guangdong Province hosted a total of 781 exhibitions throughout the year, marking a year-on-year increase of 266.67%. The total exhibition area reached 27.64 million m², reflecting a remarkable growth of 224.95%.

Furthermore, Guangdong’s exhibition industry has developed a dual-core structure centered around Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Shenzhen has become the third city in China, after Shanghai and Guangzhou, to surpass 10 million m² in exhibition space. Statistics show that in 2023, over 30,000 Guangdong-based enterprises participated in more than 200 overseas exhibitions. The digital transformation of the exhibition industry is accelerating, with artificial intelligence (AI) gradually integrating into various aspects of the industry. Around 50% of exhibition companies have already adopted AI in areas such as marketing, customer relationship management, and event planning.

In the grand landscape of global economic development, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area stands out as a highly dynamic region with vibrant economic activity, dense population mobility, and flourishing industries. As a key intersection of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the Greater Bay Area not only carries the hard work and aspirations of its people but also serves as a witness to the realization of the dreams of all Chinese people.

Guangzhou, known as "Yangcheng" (City of Rams), "Huacheng" (City of Flowers), and "Suicheng" (City of Grains). From 2025 onward, it will continue to be the stage where China’s concrete industry tells its story to the world.