Guangzhou to join Bay Area funds
The government of Guangdong province’s capital city will actively participate in forming investment funds for the Guangdong-Hong KongMacao Bay Area, and consider establishing commercial banks in the Bay Area, Wen Wei Po quoted Mayor of Guangzhou Wen Guohui as saying.
At the opening of the Third Plenary Session of the 15th Guangzhou City People’s Congress on Thursday, Wen said Guangzhou would apply its core strength in the Bay Area to its full potential this year.
The city will implement the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area develwhich opment plan.
The city will actively participate in forming investment funds earmarked for building the Bay Area, and explore the establishment of commercial banks to provide international banking services in the area.
The Bay Area blueprint was officially included in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) was approved by the 12th National People’s Congress in March 2016. The Bay Area roadmap was also clearly outlined in Premier Li Keqiang’s Government Work Report last year.
Wen said Guangzhou will also use the Nansha district to develop cooperation platforms to speed up industry cooperation between Guangdong province and Hong Kong; the city will also jointly develop innovative ecosystems for technology industries in the region.
Guangzhou will also promote cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao to broaden policy alignments in medicine, higher education, technology innovation, legal services, accounting services and intellectual property protection. The move aims to attract professional services firms from Hong Kong and Macao to station themselves in Guangzhou, Wen added.
Guangzhou should use the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link as a base when constructing a rapid-transport network in the Bay Area.
The city should also promote the liberalization of services trade between Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao to facilitate mutual flows of people, goods, information and capital among the three cities, Wen ventured.
The Bay Area is the city cluster formed by nine mainland cities in the Pearl River Delta, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, as well as the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.
It is estimated the city cluster has a population of more than 100 million and an annual GDP of $1.4 trillion.
Guangzhou will jointly develop innovative ecosystems for technology industries in the region.”
Wen Guohui,