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Chairman's Message
Chairman's Message - Building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area into a World-class City Cluster

Dr Jonathan CHOI Koon-shum (Chairman of the 50th terms of office) April 2017

 

The construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is the key to breaking through the bottleneck of economic development of the three regions.

 

Over the last few years, I have been submitting CPPCC proposals regarding the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. My recommendations span from deepening industrial support and collaboration to enhancing the convenience of transport infrastructure, etc. I believe that strengthening the cooperation amongst cities in the Pearl River Delta cluster can improve the overall competitiveness and development impetus of the Greater Bay Area.

 

Turning Hong Kong’s leading position in financial services to an advantage

Hong Kong is an important two-way financial platform for overseas and Mainland enterprises. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau should proactively reinforce their cooperation in cross-border corporate finance and financial services, leveraging on the leading position of Hong Kong as a global financing market for initial public offerings to provide more comprehensive investment and financing arrangements for the area. Hong Kong should also seek support from the Central government in establishing a two-way flow mechanism for RMB, which can be piloted in the free trade zones of Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin.

 

Hong Kong can also consider working more closely with Shenzhen to further foster the development in financial innovation, combining traditional financial services and novel payment and risk management models, as well as strengthening the inter-connection and mutual access of the stock markets through the “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect” platform. At the same time, “Bond Connect” would allow foreign investors to trade Mainland bonds through Hong Kong. Added to the fact that Hong Kong has just been accepted as a new member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, we would be able to drive the entire Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area to become a super connecting platform to take part in the Mainland’s financial market and financing for “Belt and Road” infrastructure projects in the long run.

 

Enhancing complementary industrial advantages in the area

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area has a diversified cluster of industries, each with its own edge. However, these industries must clearly position themselves to offer complementary advantages to each other to prevent duplicated development and waste of resources.

 

The governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau can investigate how to encourage companies of the three regions to cooperate more closely to form industrial clusters that complement each other’s strengths with reasonable division of work and an optimized layout through financial support and policy coordination. For example, the cooperation between innovative and technological companies and traditional industries in the Lok Ma Chau Loop can be promoted. Macau can also work on strengthening the business connection in trade and tourism with Portuguese-speaking countries. The three regions can work together to expand the room for market development within the Bay Area.

 

Accelerate construction of the “one-hour living circle”

The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area will stimulate the rapid growth in cross-border flows of people and goods, which will create imminent demands for the construction of the “one-hour living circle”. With the successive completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, as well as the commencement of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Corridor project last year, more frequent trade and talent movement is expected in the area.

 

However, the comprehensive hardware of an infrastructure can only work with good software. We hope that Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau can take the initiative to consider streamlining customs clearance at various boundary crossings, and explore measures like relaxing the application restrictions for the license of cross-border vehicles and the implementation of a one-off special quota for those cars.

 

Setting up a coordination committee for the Greater Bay Area

In the light of the fact that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area involves coordination and management across different disciplines, we hope that the Central government can look into setting up a coordination committee for the construction of the Greater Bay Area to facilitate its policy formulation and to remove management roadblocks arising from administrative subdivisions. The authorities can also drive the setting up of a joint conference spearheaded by the three local governments to help with providing inputs, implementation and promotion.

 

The coordination committee should also look into establishing a transport infrastructure coordination center to promote the coordination and division of work for the airports, ports, and railroads in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, so that the three regions can make use of the resources and competitive edge of each other in a more sensible and effective manner, thus fully maximizing the function and effectiveness of the Greater Bay Area as a major transportation hub.

 

All in all, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is the key to breaking through the bottleneck of economic development of the three regions. It will bring into the area ample new opportunities and new exciting spots for economic growth. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau must seize the opportunities and zealously press home their unique advantages to deepen the collaborative relationship. By doing so, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area can surely develop into a sparkling pearl that drives the regional economic growth at the national and even the international level.