Dongguan confident on growth target

Dongguan's economy, reliant largely on manufacturing and processing trade, maintained a healthy uptick during the

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first five months of the year, a top local government official said.

Zhang Ke, vice-mayor of Dongguan, said the local government's persistent efforts to transform the local economy, after the global economic crisis of 2008, have started to pay off.

"We are confident that the city will meet its economic growth target this year," Zhang told a group of foreign reporters from countries situated along the ancient Maritime Silk Road, who concluded a five-day visit to Guangdong on Monday.

According to Zhang, the uptick in Dongguan's economy has been achieved through the enhanced development of advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries.

Since the second half of 2012, the economic growth rate of Dongguan, which relied heavily on export-oriented business for economic growth in the past, has surpassed the average rate of Guangdong province, Zhang said.

According to Cai Kang, deputy director of Dongguan Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Dongguan's import and export value reached $47.4 billion, up 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first four months of this year.

The actual utilized foreign investment of the first four months maintained a steady growth of 15.4 percent, indicating an improved business environment for foreign investors, Cai said.

"We have introduced a number of big projects this year, with planned investment of more than $100 million for each project. Higher investment has helped expand the economy," he said.