China Daily (Hong Kong)

Deputies: Bay area offers huge potential for youths

- By ZHOU MO in Beijing sally@chinadaily­hk.com

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area offers a fantastic platform for young people from the Hong Kong and Macao special administra­tive regions to work and start up businesses on the Chinese mainland, deputies to the National People’s Congress said on Tuesday.

The bay area is vast, home to a rich seam of expertise and talent, has internatio­nal vision and rich resources, said Wong Ting-chung, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC.

Its transporta­tion network is also well developed, he said.

He made the remarks during the interview at the “NPC deputies passage” at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday.

Wong, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of knitwear manufactur­er Nameson Group, said he has been working in the bay area for years as the production base of his company is located in Huizhou, Guangdong province.

“I hope young people from Hong Kong and Macao could come to the Greater Bay Area to pursue their studies and then work there. The bay area, I believe, creates a great opportunit­y for young people from Hong Kong, Macao and all across the world to start up a business,” he said.

He suggested that more convenient policies be launched to facilitate cross-boundary flow, for example, to integrate an identity informatio­n system for Hong Kong residents into that used on the mainland, to tackle the problem of difference­s in taxation.

He also called on more internatio­nally well-known universiti­es to set up schools in the area in order to cultivate more expertise.

Chui Sai-peng, a NPC deputy from Macao, said there is plenty of developmen­t space in the bay area for the younger generation.

Macao and the mainland can work together in promoting young people to innovate and nurture entreprene­urship in the cluster, he said.

It can also play an active role in tourism developmen­t in the Greater Bay Area as Macao has developed tourism facilities and has advanced tourism education resources, Chui said.

In addition, as a bond linking the mainland with Portuguese-speaking countries, Macao can contribute to promoting business cooperatio­n and serve the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.

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