Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, will develop its Nansha district, a newly-approved free trade zone in the heart of the Pearl River Delta, into an international shipping and logistics center to help expand its economy, said Chen Jianhua, mayor of the city, on Friday.

"We have an ancient port with a history of more than 1,000 years in Nansha, and this will come in handy for the development of the free trade zone," said Chen.

According to Chen, construction of the third phase of the Guangzhou port, which currently has a handling capacity of 10 million twenty-foot equivalent unit, will be completed soon.