Bay Area plan aims for world leading center
Goal to become innovation, technology hub, important pillar for Belt and Road
The much-anticipated development plan outline for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was unveiled on Monday, aiming to turn the 11-city cluster into a globally influential international innovation and technology hub and an important support pillar for the Belt and Road Initiative.
The plan was released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. It sets both near-term and long-term development objectives for the region.
The plan says that by 2022, the framework for an international firstclass bay area and world-class city cluster should be formed. The region will establish a reasonable division of labor, complementary functions and coordinated development.
By 2035, the region should have an economic system and mode of development mainly supported by innovation and fully develop into an international first-class area for living, working and traveling.
Markets within the Bay Area should be highly connected with an effective and efficient flow of resources and factors of production.
The Bay Area encompasses Hong Kong and Macao, as well as nine cities in Guangdong province: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Foshan, Zhaoqing and Jiangmen.
The plan says that among the 11 cities, Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen serve as the core engines for development.
It adds that Hong Kong serves as an international financial, transportation and trade center as well as a global aviation hub within the area. Macao, the other special administrative region within the Bay Area, will develop into a world-class tourism and leisure center and a commerce and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will boost Hong Kong residents’ livelihoods — especially in healthcare, elderly care and education, experts said as the central government unveiled the regional development blueprint on Monday.
Lam Ching-choi, a member of the Executive Council — the core decision-making and advisory body to the chief executive, believes the official outline development plan is “pragmatic” and “conducive” to improving healthcare and elderly care services in the region.
The outline unveiled on Monday supports medical and healthcare service providers from Hong Kong and Macao to establish healthcare facilities through multiple approaches — including sole proprietorship, joint-ventures and cooperation — in the nine Bay Area cities in Guangdong province.
Hong Kong patients will enjoy better convenience receiving medical consultations and treatment in the Bay Area, Lam said.
The outline also encourages medical and healthcare professionals from Hong Kong and Macao to visit the nine Pearl River Delta municipalities for academic exchanges and short-term private practice. This would improve the competitiveness of the medical and healthcare industry within the Bay Area, Lam said.
Moreover, Lam said Hong Kong could leverage its advantages in healthcare services to help establish a grassroots medical network covering the whole Bay Area. In addition, Hong Kong is able to lend a hand, helping the nine cities in Guangdong set up specialist services, added Lam.
Hong Kong’s seniors will also have more choices as the outline particularly facilitates an environment favorable to Hong Kong and Macao retirees to live in Guangdong, Lam said.
Education is also highlighted. Ho Hon-kuen, chairman of the Education Convergence — one of Hong Kong’s leading educators’ groups — says the blueprint not only projects the Bay Area to develop into an education and talents hub, but also stresses educational cooperation within the region.
Ho estimates there will be a growing trend in interactions among educational stakeholders from different cities within the Bay Area.
More exchanges of education groups will boost the development of education in the region, Ho noted.
The former principal of Elegantia College said the outline encourages primary and secondary schools in the region to partner up as “sister schools”.
Ho thought such close relationships between Hong Kong and the mainland schools would be a winwin situation. Both sides could learn about the other’s advantages through the exchange programs and seminars.
For instance, on one hand, Shenzhen can provide resources for Hong Kong schools to help them further optimize curriculum arrangements in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), as well as adjust programs to consolidate students’ innovation and technology ability, Ho said. On the other hand, Hong Kong schools’ management mechanisms are more advanced, which can be learnt by others, He added.
Stanley Ng Chau-pei, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions — the city’s largest union of workers, said he was delighted the outline covered various sectors regarding people’s livelihoods. He said this could help build a “quality living circle” in the 11-city cluster.
Those included talent mobility, convenient policies for people’s daily life and efficient flow of information, Ng said.
He said what concerns him most is how development of the Bay Area can benefit people’s livelihoods, and make them feel happy.
The outline will help guide leaders and policymakers in the region to formulate arrangements in different areas, said Ng, who’s also a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature.
Noting that the outline focuses on developing the Bay Area into a world-class city cluster and industrial base, Ng said it requires attractive policies and a quality living environment for talents.
He hopes the outline will assist each city in long-term policymaking and better urban planning. This will help drive the overall development of Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland.
“Basically, the outline is to guide Hong Kong’s all-round integration into national development,” Ng said. “I look forward to the Hong Kong government’s more proactive and comprehensive participation into the Bay Area blueprint.”