Since 2003, the State has begun to clear up and neaten all various development zones thoroughly, strengthened the management of building ground, and defined the development zone strictly as some economic one set by the approval of the State Department or Guangdong government, which including mainly the economic and technological development zones, the high and new technological industrial development zones, the export processing zones, the duty free zones, the economic development trial zones, and so on. One which is not approved to be set by the State or Guangdong government cannot attract foreign investment by the title of the development zone nor require to be approved as consolidate confiscate ground.

It’s researched basically by the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Guangdong Province, that there are 83 national or provincial development zones till the end of 2003 (For details, please refer to the name list of the development zones in Guangdong province). There are 18 zones approved by the State Department, including 4 economic and technological development zones, 6 high and new technological industrial development zones, 6 duty free zones and 2 export processing zones; and 65 approved by Guangdong government, including 56 economic development trial zones and 9 high and new technological industrial development zones.

In 2003, all various development zones in our province have developed rapidly. According to the general statistic, the annual financial income of all the development zones reached RMB1,050 billion yuan, increased by 25.7% over the previous year; the general production value of industry was RMB58,302.5 billion yuan, increased by 69.2%; there were 1578 items of direct foreign investment, increased by 76.7%; the contract utilization of direct foreign investment was US$739.5 billion, increased by 17.0%; the actual utilization of direct foreign investment was US$450.8 billion, increased by 62.7%; the total import and export value grew to US$5,916.8 billion, 1.88 times over that of the previous year, including the import value of US$1,849 billion and the export value of US$4,067.7 billion, 4.72 times and 1.35 times over respectively.

National-level Development Zones
The 18 national development zones of Guangdong province contributed the total industrial production value of RMB50,012.5 billion yuan in 2003, accounting for 85.78% of the total; there were 1023 items of direct foreign investment, accounting for 64.82%; the contract utilization of direct foreign investment was US$442.9 billion, accounting for 59.89%; the actual utilization of direct foreign investment was US$326 billion, accounting for 72.32%; the total import and export value was US$5,637 billion, accounting for 95.27%, with the import value of US$1,764.8 billionand the export value of US$3,872.1 billion, accounting for 95.45% and 95.19% respectively.

Provincial-level Development Zones
The 65 national development zones of Guangdong province contributed the total industrial production value of RMB8290 billion yuan in 2003, accounting for 16.58% of the total; there were 555 items of direct foreign investment, accounting for 35.17%; the contract utilization of direct foreign investment was US$296.6 billion, accounting for 66.97%; the actual utilization of direct foreign investment was US$124.8 billion, accounting for 38.28%; the total import and export value was US$279.8 billion, accounting for 4.96%, with the import value of US$84.2 billion and the export value of US$195.6 billion, accounting for 4.78% and 5.05% respectively.

Appendix
The Name List of The Development Zones in Guangdong Province (83 in total)

The Pearl River Delta Areas (31)

The East Areas of Guangdong Province (18)

The West Areas of Guangdong Province (19)

The Mountainous Areas (15)