湛江是全国首批14个沿海对外开放港口城市之一。面对全面推进第二次创业，建设经济发达、环境优美、秩序良好、文明富庶区域性中心城市的历史重任，认真研究加入世界贸易组织可能对湛江经济产生的深远影响，制定对策，抓住机遇，趋利避害，十分紧迫。
　　加入WTO是难得的机遇，有利于湛江全面实施外向带动战略，促进经济进一步发展。
　　第一，有助于产业结构调整。湛江市的特色产品，如荔枝、龙眼、香蕉等热带水果，在加入WTO后，在国际市场上也将更具竞争力；WTO成员国将会放宽对我国引进先进技术和高科技产业的限制，有助于我市加快实现产业技术的升级换代；一些扩大开放的产业领域，如服务业，将由于外资的大量进入而获得发展。
　　第二，有助于湛江推进二次创业。随着关税下调和非关税措施大幅削减，进口商品价格下降将引起国内价格总水平进一步下降，增加人们的消费能力，将促使住房、汽车、电信服务等成为消费热点；一些受配额限制的商品有可能实现出口扩张，从而使我市内外需求同时得到扩大。在国民待遇原则下，我们对外商投资企业的税费减让优惠必将减少，加上外商投资企业的增加和整体经济的持续增长，又必然有利于我市财政税收的增长。
　　第三，加入WTO后，中国在WTO中有了发言权，有助于我市进一步提高外向型经济的管理水平。
　　第四，加入WTO，各成员方相互开放市场，这将有利于我市参与国际竞争和国际合作，充分发挥比较优势，还有利于我们与跨国公司进行合作。
　　中国加入WTO，湛江经济发展面临挑战。预测湛江第一、二、三产业都受到冲击。受冲击较大的有：(1)处于劣势或优势不明显行业。如甘蔗、制糖、建材、柑橙等；(2)垄断性较高和原来开放程度较低的行业，如金融、保险、零售、电信等服务业；(3)生产成本高，生产能力过剩的产品，如电视机和其他耐用消费品。区域经济安全将会承受很大压力。在与国内其他地区的开放竞争中，湛江作为沿海开放城市的优势将逐步消失。
　　下面是按行业分析中国入世对湛江经济造成的影响。
　　农业。加入WTO对湛江农业有正面效应，也有负面影响，但负面影响不大。我市受益较大的农产品主要是：有比较优势的热带水果产品，如荔枝、龙眼、香蕉等；畜牧业也因廉价进口饲料粮而降低生产成本。受冲击不大的农产品主要是优质米。受冲击较大的主要是甘蔗、普通(三级)大米、鸡、猪、蔬菜等。
　　可以预料，加入WTO后粮食和肉类价格下降，将会影响农业生产者的收入。特别是粮食生产，湛江是农业大市，湛江的粮食生产成本几乎高于美国一倍。因此，粮食关税下调和进口增加，将会进一步 带动粮价下降，影响农民种粮积极性。
　　工业。根据分析，加入WTO后，湛江获益较大的产品主要是：纺织服装、皮革制品、饲料、工艺美术品、中成药等。受冲击不大的产品主要是：摩托车、照明器具、复合化肥等。受冲击较大的产业、产品主要是：制糖、复印机、食品添加剂、高档耐用建材、广播电视设备、汽车，尤其是轿车。
　　服务业。据分析判断，加入WTO后，湛江受益较大的是旅游等。受影响不大的是贸易、证券、邮政、专业性服务、视听产品等，受影响较大的是银行业、保险业、电信业和零售业等。
　　根据以上分析，我们提出了以下对策建议：
　　增强紧迫感和危机感，树立必胜信心； 及早做好各项准备工作。
　　加快产业结构调整。农业生产结构调整的关键是发展特色、优势和"三高"农业，提高农产品的档次和质量。要突出抓好南亚热带现代农业示范区建设和南亚观光旅游农业带建设，加速农村工业化、城市化，大力发展农产品加工和储藏、保鲜、运输、销售业，培育更多农业龙头企业。加强和调整对农业的宏观调控方式，支持农业发展的投入，完善农业社会化服务体系，积极发展农业出口信贷等，既不违背WTO的农产品协议，又大大提高我市农业竞争力。
　　工业产业结构调整要提高产业技术素质和创新力。对企业引进国外先进技术，要给予资金，配额等有力支持；鼓励跨国公司来湛江办实业，尤其欢迎具有高技术产业的跨国企业到湛江投资办厂。
　　服务业产业结构调整的关键，一是改革，尽快打破垄断经营，提高服务业竞争力；二是有序开放，控制好开放的速度、规模和范围；三是加强监管，消除隐患，防范服务业开放带来的各种风险。
　　
　　WTO Opportunities and Challenges for Zhanjiang Development Zone and Zhanjiang City
　　By Zhanjiang Development Zone Administrative Committee
　　
　　Zhanjiang City in Guangdong Province is one of the 14 coastal cities designated by China‘s central government to open to foreign capital in 1984 following the establishment of the Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen special economic zones to showcase China‘s new policy of reform and opening. The Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone (Zhanjiang ETDZ) has by now become home to more than 500 foreign-funded enterprises, including seven that are able to yielded 10 million yuan or more in yearly net profits. Reviewing the achievements we have made over the years, we feel indebted to the central authorities for their policy of opening the relatively developed coastal regions first to prepare the entire country, through well-planned steps, for opening to the outside world.
　　We are now working hard to prepare ourselves for participation in global competition, now that China, as a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is to directly get involved in the process of economic globalization. For the following reasons, we think that China‘s entry into the WTO will facilitate the development of the Zhanjiang ETDZ and Zhanjiang City as whole:
　　The country‘s WTO entry will be conducive to our effort to restructure our industrial establishment. Our labor-intensive industries may receive a boost as developed countries are shifting theirs to China and other developing members of the world trade body. Litchi, longan, banana and other tropical fruit, for which we have always been famous, will become even more competitive on the world market. Import tariffs are being reduced in line with WTO rules. As a result, the cost of our animal farming and food production as well as our processing undertakings will drop. We are expecting our service industry to expand over the next few years, now that foreign investment is allowed in formerly closed sectors such as banking, insurance and postal and telecom services.
　　China is now obliged to provide national treatment to foreign investors. The Zhanjiang ETDZ, on its part, will have to cut the number of policy privileges granted to foreign-funded companies and eventually revoke them, including for example tax reductions and exemption. That, plus the development of foreign-funded enterprises, will augment the local government revenue. With more financial resources available to us, the Zhanjiang ETDZ and the city of Zhanjiang will be in a better position to start a second round of development.
　　To us, China‘s WTO membership also means even more effective protection of our rights and interests in international competition and we will find it easier for us to go global. For that reason, we are expecting improved external conditions for the development of the city and the ETDZ.
　　Meanwhile, China will face a range of challenges in the wake of its WTO entry. To narrow such challenges down to Zhanjiang, we are expecting an ever-intensifying impact on all sectors of its economy. The impact will be especially biting on our building materials and sugar refining industries that are barely competitive and on our banking, insurance, retailing and telecom sectors that are still under state monopoly. Also to be adversely affected is our production of TV sets and other durable goods, the supply of which is already in excess of market demand.
　　We are also expecting a heavier pressure to bear upon the economic security of our region, as foreign investors are likely to increase their share of the local telecom, electric power, communications and financial markets. The Zhanjiang ETDZ will lose its competitive edge over other parts of China when policy privileges are no longer practiced under the principle of national treatment.
　　Here is an industry-by-industry analysis of how China‘s WTO entry will affect the city of Zhangjiang and the ETDZ:
　　
　　1. Agriculture
　　As we have said, China‘s WTO entry will be to the benefit of our production of tropical fruit such as litchi, longan and banana, as well as to our animal farming or meat production. Since 1999, we have set up some 46 demonstration farms in our South Asia Tropical Agriculture Park. These have a combined area of 15,333 hectares, including more than 6,000 hectares under tropical fruit trees.
　　Imported grain will account for 3% of the country‘s total consumption in the first year of the WTO entry, and the figure is to grow to 5% eventually. A bilateral agreement between China and the United States obliges China to lift the ban on import of American wheat, meats and citrus fruit and lower the tariff rate to 14.5% on import of agricultural products from the United States. Incomes of our farmers are likely to be adversely affected as a result of these measures. The reason is pretty simple - the cost of grain production here is twice as high as in the United States.
　　
　　2. Industry
　　China‘s entry of the WTO comes as a blessing for our production of textiles, garments, leather products, animal feed, handicraft articles and prepared drugs of traditional Chinese medicine. The impact, if any, will be moderate on our production of motorcycles, lighting equipment and compound fertilizer. Our sugar refining and production of copy machines, food additives, high-class building materials, and radio and TV broadcasting equipment may be adversely affected.
　　
　　3. The service sector
　　Our tourist industry will benefit from China‘s entry into the WTO. The impact, if any, will be moderate on our commodity trade, stock trading and postal services. Meanwhile, we are worried by a possible negative impact on our banking and insurance sectors, on our budding insurance industry in particular.
　　In view of both the opportunities and challenges to come along with China‘s entry into the WTO, we have proposed the following counter-measures to the Zhanjiang City Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Zhanjiang City Government:
　　1. There is the need for the authorities to increase their sense of urgency and their understanding of the risks to emerge in step with China‘s implementation of the WTO principles and rules. Meanwhile, the authorities should be confident enough in taking up the challenges.
　　2. The local government should accelerate the pace of its withdrawal from the market. There is the vital need for the government to review the decrees and policies it has published so far, to see what can be retained in light of the WTO requirements and what should be revised or revoked. The local government should spare no effort to create the kind of market environment where open, fair competition is possible. Also important is the development of human resources, with a view to bringing forth a contingent of professionals who are well-versed in WTO principles and rules and qualified for the building of a foreign market-oriented economy.
　　3. No effort should be spared to increase the cit‘s export. To achieve the purpose, there is the need to continue providing such incentives as allowed by the WTO. There is also the need for Zhanjiang and the ETDZ to develop E-commerce in a big way.
　　4. Restructuring of the local economy should be accelerated. For agriculture, this calls for effort to develop, in a big way, undertakings with local characteristics such as production of tropical fruit and high-yield, cost-efficient and high-tech crop farming, as well tourism-oriented agriculture. The process of rural industrialization and urbanization should be accelerated. The government should give energetic support to the development of warehousing, preservation, transport and marketing of agricultural products. Positive efforts should be made to expand credit for export of agricultural products, in a way that does not violate the WTO agricultural protocols while able to sharpen the competitive edge of our agricultural products.
　　In restructuring our industrial setup to make it capable of taking up the WTO challenges, there is the need for the government and enterprises to concentrate on improving the capability of industrial innovation. The government should provide financial and other assistance to enterprises in their effort to acquire and absorb imported technologies. It should encourage transnational corporations to invest in the Zhanjiang ETDZ and other parts of the city.
　　In restructuring the service industry, what is of utmost importance is effort by the government to break the monopoly by the public sector over it. The sector must be opened in an orderly way and through well-planned steps, and proper control must be exercised over the speed of the opening. Government control and supervision should be strengthened over foreign investment in the local banking, insurance, telecom, retailing and transport sectors. A full range of measures should be adopted to this effect, measures that are attractive enough to investors while able to ward off possible risks that our own service industry may face.
　　5. Disorder and vicious competition between companies and between administrative regions are often found in China‘s export trade. The problem may go from bad to worse with the lifting of export quota licensing as required by the WTO. While ceasing to interfere into the day-to-day operations of companies, the government should do a still more effective job of coordinating the efforts of companies to expand their export. Chinese companies must be united as one in taking up the WTO challenges. On no account must the so-called "fratricidal war" be repeated.