“Shenzhen Smart Manufacturing” products are crossing oceans and gaining popularity in international markets, with foreign trade exports consistently ranking first among major Chinese cities. Numerous foreign heads of state and government leaders have visited Shenzhen, while international institutions and enterprises continue to arrive, advancing practical cooperation across multiple fields. The city’s identity as a “Technology Hub” shines brighter, and its function as a “National Reception Hall” continues to strengthen.
Greater openness activates development momentum, and greater development builds confidence for further opening. Since the start of the current five-year plan period, Shenzhen has maintained a global perspective and proactive approach, steadfastly expanding high-level opening up. The city actively serves as a base, platform, channel, and hub in both domestic and international economic circulation, comprehensively enhancing its attractiveness for “bringing in” investments and competitiveness for “going global.” Shenzhen remains at the forefront of opening up, participating in global economic cooperation and competition while leading the creation of new win-win patterns.
Steadily Increasing Global Market Presence
From January to September this year, Shenzhen Airport’s international and regional cargo throughput reached 771,000 tons, a 12.7% year-on-year increase, setting a new record for the same period.
Behind these figures lies continuously growing global delivery capacity, reflecting Shenzhen’s strong foreign trade performance.
Since the beginning of the current five-year plan period, Shenzhen’s total foreign trade import and export volume has reached 18.9 trillion yuan, accounting for 9.5% of the national total. In 2024, with 4.5 trillion yuan in import-export volume, Shenzhen reclaimed its position as China’s top foreign trade city after nine years, while maintaining its 32-year streak as the leading export city. During the first three quarters of this year, Shenzhen’s cumulative import-export volume remained the highest among Chinese foreign trade cities, reaching 3.36 trillion yuan, continuing positive growth and sustaining stable, improving development momentum.
Industrial upgrading provides strong support for Shenzhen’s foreign trade development. Traditional industries are accelerating their transformation and upgrading, while emerging industries are flourishing. Different sectors collaborate closely and mutually reinforce each other, forming powerful development synergy and continuously expanding new spaces for foreign trade growth. Continuous improvements in cross-border trade facilitation help enterprises explore new foreign trade markets and actively cultivate new foreign trade products, business formats, and brands. Shenzhen’s new high-tech products such as new energy vehicles, industrial robots, and drones are accelerating their global expansion. The foreign trade industrial structure is shifting from traditional general technical product exports to high-tech and information technology-focused exports, with increasing “innovation content” in foreign trade.
Shenzhen continues to optimize its business environment, introducing a series of targeted, high-value policy measures that form powerful policy combinations. This year, measures including “Ten Key Points for Shenzhen’s 2025 Foreign Trade Stabilization Support Policies” and “Ten Key Points for Shenzhen’s 2025 Service Trade Development Support Policies” have been launched. Municipal and district levels have jointly organized nearly 5,500 enterprises to participate in 126 internationally renowned exhibitions across 37 countries and regions, including the Arab International Medical Laboratory Instruments and Equipment Exhibition, European International Audiovisual and Integrated Systems Exhibition, and Japan Spring International Smart Energy Week. These efforts help enterprises accelerate their international market布局, not only exporting products but also increasing overseas investments to promote local industrial upgrading and achieve localized operations, building a more resilient global production and supply chain network.
Continuously Strengthening Foreign Investment Attraction
On August 29, Finnish company Kone Elevator signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Qianhai Authority to establish its China Southern Headquarters in Shenzhen’s Qianhai, building R&D centers, smart logistics, and assembly centers. Kone Group’s Executive Vice President and Greater China President stated that Qianhai, as an important platform for Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, possesses strong industrial foundations, superior geographical location, convenient transportation networks, and efficient government services, providing strong support for Kone Elevator’s expansion in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area market.
Attracting and utilizing foreign investment is an important indicator of opening-up levels and a crucial means to achieve high-level opening up. With its high degree of openness, strong economic vitality, concentrated innovation atmosphere, and optimal development environment, Shenzhen has become an important strategic pivot for foreign investment to deepen their presence in China and connect globally. This year, 104 countries and regions have invested in Shenzhen, including internationally renowned companies such as Siemens Healthineers, Dassault Systèmes, and JCDecaux establishing new investment projects in the city.
Data shows that since the beginning of the current five-year plan period until July 2025, the city has newly established 34,600 foreign-in
