Guangzhou's GDP will grow at an average annual rate of 11 percent during the term of the 12th Five-Year Plan, announced Executive Vice Mayor Wu Yimin on December 22 during a meeting with officials with the city's People's Political Conference.

According to Executive Vice Wu, the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee has set sights on an average annual GDP growth of 11 percent during the term of the 12th Five-Year Plan. The target is in line with the national and provincial targets, which are set at 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Guangzhou's GDP for 2010 is expected to reach 12.5 percent, making Guangzhou China's third city to register an annual GDP in excess of a trillion yuan. During the term of the 11th Five-Year Plan, Guangzhou's GDP averaged an annual growth of about 13 percent.

Executive Vice Wu said that Guangzhou will face both remarkable opportunities and unpredictable challenges during the term of the 12th Five-Year Plan, and that, the 11 percent target is pragmatic and realistic considering that the city's foreign trade has yet to fully recovered from the global financial crisis, though it managed to grow about 20 percent during the term of the 11th Five-Year Plan.

"Guangzhou trails Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing in terms of investment," Executive Vice Wu said, "During the term of the 12th Five-Year Plan, Guangzhou will expand the scale of investment."

In the future, Guangzhou will focus on a number of mega industries and mega projects. The city will launch 258 major projects with a total investment of 1.5 trillion yuan. Executive Vice Wu said that the government will continue to increase spending on major infrastructure facilities, such as rail links, airports and ports and will take steps to foster three emerging strategic pillar industries each with annual output value of about 300 million yuan – new-energy automobiles, energy conservation and environmental protection, and marine engineering. By 2015, Guangzhou is expected to become a major national base for emerging strategic industries. The city will also quicken its pace of relocating industrial enterprises to make way for service businesses.

Executive Vice Wu also stated that strong efforts will be made to enhance public trust in the government and the government's administrative efficiency, deepen the reform of the city administration system, increase relegation in city administration, and enhance the role of district governments in city administration.