Growth still sought, but by new means

Authorities will continue to give encouragement to businesses engaged in the processing trade, which imports raw materials and makes them into products for export. That industry has been dealt a heavy blow by the global economic downturn.

Foreign-funded firms and processing trade enterprises in Guangdong generated 1.11 trillion yuan ($169 billion) in revenue in the domestic market in 2011.

Authorities will increase their efforts to attract foreign investment, particularly looking to large foreign economies and international business giants.

The province has attracted more than $250 billion in foreign direct investment in the past three decades, accounting for about 25 percent of China's total. But when measured by annual contractual and actually used foreign direct investment, it has been surpassed by Jiangsu province in recent years.

Pursuing green development, Guangdong authorities plan to have 75 percent of the sewage collected in provincial cities and towns brought to central plants for treatment and hope to ensure that more than 95 percent of the days in a year in all the prefecture-level cities meet specific air-quality standards. Both tasks are to be completed by 2015.

To that end, authorities will continue their work to save energy and cut emissions. The province can now obtain 34 percent of its power from clean sources. It also ranks as the first in China for the amount of nuclear-generation capacity it both has and has under construction.

The income discrepancy between urban and rural residents has been narrowed in Guangdong in the past five years. But authorities hope to narrow the divide even further and expect an 8-percent growth in both urban and rural annual incomes in the next five years.