Foshan is one of the earliest trading ports in China’s history and one of the earliest commodity export bases since the reform and opening up. Its products have been exported to over 100 countries and regions. Foshan is also a renowned hometown for overseas Chinese with over 1.48 million Chinese of Foshan’s descent living in Hongkong, Macao and other regions of the world. 

Foshan has been a hot spot for foreign investment. Now, 60 of the Fortune Global 500 cooperations such as Volkswagen, Toyota and Budweiser have invested in Foshan. 

Foshan has been continuously expanding its foreign exchanges. Sister city relations with Itami of Japan, Port Louis of Mauritius, Stockton of the United States, Ingolstadt of Germany and other foreign cities have been established. Foshan received “The Award to Friendship Cities for Exchanges and Cooperation”. Foshan also launched the initiative to build “Sino-German Industrial Cities Alliance” with Bremen, Hanover and other cities at home and abroad.　 

Following the The Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020), Foshan government has made great efforts to promote regional integration. Since the launch of Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolitan program, the two cities have been further integrated in the areas of urban planning, infrastructure construction, industrial interaction, environment protection and people’s livelihood, which made a perfect sample in the country for cooperation of regional integration.

The first intercity metro in China, Guangzhou-Foshan Metro, has been put into operation. The development of Foshan has been deepened and expanded by its participation in such regional cooperation as the construction of the economic zone of Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhaoqing, the cooperation of Foshan, Hongkong and Macau, the pan-Pearl River Delta cooperation, the Pearl River-Xijiang River economic belt construction, the building of Guangdong Free Trade Zone and the construction of economic cooperative pilot zone of Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou connected by high speed rail.