Central govt bodies in HK to take active role in Bay Area

Central government bodies in Hong Kong should work with the special administrative region government and the city’s residents to ensure full participation in the Guangdong-Hong KongMacao Greater Bay Area development and bring real benefits to local people, central government officials based in the city said.

Wang Zhimin, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR, presided over an internal meeting on Monday to discuss the city’s role in the Bay Area, following the first meeting of the country’s leading group for the development of the Bay Area last week in Beijing.

In that meeting, Vice-Premier Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the leading group, elaborated on the spirit, principles and direction of the Bay Area development plan.

Central government institutions in Hong Kong — namely the Liaison Office, the Commissioner’s Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the People’s Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison — should support the HKSAR Government to explore new growth engines and expand new opportunities for the city’s future development, according to a report of the meeting.

Meanwhile, the institutions should also play the role of “coordinator”, “connector” and “facilitator”; communicate with all sectors of the city and bridge central government departments and the SAR, the meeting decided.

In addition, central government institutions should take the initiative to encourage Hong Kong residents, especially the young people, to participate in the Bay Area’s development, according to the meeting.

The attendees stressed the significance of the leading group’s meeting, as it marked a new phase in the development of the Bay Area.

Moreover, as this is the first time for the chief executives of the two SARs to be included as members in a decision-making body of a top national strategy, it demonstrates the roles of Hong Kong and Macao have transformed from “connectors” to “participants”, the meeting noted.

Meeting participants also reckoned that the Bay Area has become a hot topic since President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing ceremony of the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area on July 1 last year.

Since then, the HKSAR Government has taken the initiative to promote the Bay Area development. Representatives from all sectors have visited other Bay Area cities. A number of local think tanks and political parties have also submitted proposals for the development plan.

Commissioner of the MFA in the HKSAR Xie Feng, and Tan Benhong, commander of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison, also attended the meeting.