HKMAO director: Bay Area blueprint being finalized
The blueprint for the Guangdong Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development has been completed, and its relevant supporting plans are being finalized, according to Zhang Xiaoming, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.
In an interview with China Central Television on Saturday, Zhang said the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, which make up the Bay Area along with nine cities in Guangdong province, are provided with a broader development platform, thanks to national-level development blueprints like the Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative.
The two SARs, with irreplaceable advantages, will continue to play a unique role in the nation’s new round of development and reform and opening-up, he said.
In the development of the 11-city Bay Area, Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen could be regarded as key cities with different development focuses.
Hong Kong’s main responsibility is to consolidate and improve its position as an international financial, shipping, trading and aviation hub, and promote the high-value-added and high-end development in finance, trade, logistics and professional services, said Zhang.
Macao should strive to become a world-class tourism and recreation center, as well as commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguesespeaking countries.
Zhang pointed out that Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, should make the most of its role as the national central city, which indicates that the city has the core functions of driving the region’s development and serving the entire nation.
For Shenzhen, the city should play a leading role in the development of innovation and technology, Zhang said.
Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said late last year the Bay Area blueprint would be released early this year.
According to the central government, the blueprint will preliminarily define the Bay Area’s target, orientation and key development tasks, including policies on major infrastructures, key development platforms, and important economic and trade cooperation.
At an event on Friday, Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, chairman of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Entrepreneurs Union, said leaders of the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao governments will lead a delegation to Japan in April to hold grand forums to jointly promote the Bay Area and exchange resources.
In September, an international bay area forum will be held in Guangzhou to link up with the world’s leading bay areas through a series of activities, said Choi, who’s also a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee.
Political and business leaders from the San Francisco Bay Area, New York Bay Area and the Tokyo Bay Area will attend the event.
“To make China’s Bay Area world class, we must learn from the world’s top bay areas through frequent exchange activities,” Choi said.
The two SARs, with irreplaceable advantages, will continue to play a unique role in the nation’s new round of development and reform and openingup.”
Zhang Xiaoming, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office