View of a park in Zhanjiang city, South China's Guangdong province, May 26, 2013. [Photo/IC]

Zhanjiang is experiencing a golden era full of challenges and development opportunities in establishing itself as a "One Belt and One Road" pivot city, said Wang Zhongbing, mayor of the city in South China's Guangdong province.

Wang made the comment during a panel discussion at which entrepreneurial participants from South China's Guangdong commerce federation expressed their interested in investing in the city.

"As one of the pivot cities on the path of the Belt and Road Initiative, we shall take advantage of the Guangdong-Guangxi Special Economic Corporation Area to better integrate with other cities in the Beibu Gulf Rim in terms of economic development," said Wang.

Together with steel production, petrochemicals and papermaking, the city's industrial economy had seen rapid growth, he said.

Jin Bo, leader of the entrepreneurs and vice-secretary of the Party committee of the Guangdong provincial Beijing liaison office, said Zhanjiang has regional advantages and will play an important role in the economic development of Guangdong province.

Zhang Ning contributed to this story.