Guangdong urges closer SAR ties
Intensifying cooperation with the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions will be the major focus of the Guangdong provincial government, and form a vital part in pressing ahead with the country’s reform and opening-up, a senior provincial government official stressed on Sunday.
Ouyang Weimin, vice-governor of Guangdong province, urged the two SARs to take a “ride on the express train” of national development in order to reap the fruits of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
He made the remarks at a meeting with a delegation of Hong Kong legislators and senior HKSAR Government officials before the group wrapped up a three-day duty visit to the Bay Area.
The vice-governor said he hopes Hong Kong and Guangdong will cooperate in strengthening business investment, innovation and technology, financing and professional services.
The three-day tour took 32 Hong Kong lawmakers and four bureau heads to five cities in the province that are part of the 11-city Bay Area cluster — Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan and Guangzhou.
They visited innovation firms, met with local government officials to see how Hong Kong could benefit from their development, and talked with Hong Kong people working in those cities.
Before returning to Hong Kong, lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung described the trip as “busy yet fruitful”.
Members of the delegation, which included nine lawmakers from the opposition camp, spoke positively about the trip, noting they have been well briefed about the rapid development in the other Bay Area cities, their respective strengths and the region’s great potential.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs of the HKSAR Government Patrick Nip Tak-kuen — one of the bureau heads who joined the trip — said Hong Kong and Guangdong have reached a consensus in adopting flexible and supportive policies to intensify development of innovation and technology, medical services and incentives that encourage talent flows.
Other lawmakers said they were impressed by the determination of the Guangdong municipal governments to tap into the Bay Area development.
Lawmaker Ma Fung-kwok, who is also a Hong Kong deputy to the country’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, said the most remarkable aspect he noticed during the trip was the flexible and entrepreneurial spirit shown by both the local governments and the people.
He was particularly impressed by the country’s first internet-based bank WeBank, saying its fast and successful development is an inspiration for Hong Kong’s traditional banking industry.
Shenzhen-based WeBank, run by mainland e-commerce giant Tencent Holdings, was the delegation’s first stop. The lender’s operation is seen as a major step in deepening financial reform.
Hong Kong legislator Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who was part of the delegation, said she was impressed by the Dongguan-based national-level scientific facility China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) as the facility allows for cross-disciplinary research in, and applications to be developed from life science, material science, chemistry and physics.
Like a “giant microscope”, CSNS is China’s first and the world’s fourth spallation neutron source, analyzing object structure using intense pulsed neutron beams.
Engineering sector lawmaker Lo Wai-kwok said the visit has enabled him to learn that cities in Guangdong do provide a complete industrial chain — from basic research to knowledge transfers, and from product manufacturing to industry development.
He noted the cities have also invested a lot in infrastructure to improve transport networks, adding that only through connectivity could joint progress be achieved.
The Bay Area, covering nine mainland cities and the two SARs, is a national-level development blueprint first written into the country’s Government Work Report in 2017. The overall development plan for the Bay Area is expected to be revealed later this year.