Greater Bay, Bigger Opportunities

Three years after the State Council of China issued the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-hong Kongmacao Greater Bay Area, the most dynamic metropolis cluster in China has taken on a new look, with greater development potential, greater economic aggregation, and greater economic strength. In the past three years, the GDP in the area grew from 10.87 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) in 2018 to 12.81 trillion yuan ($2.01 trillion) in 2021. The Greater Bay Area is marching toward a dynamic and internationally competitive world-class city cluster.

Covering a total area of 56,000 square km and with a combined population of approximately 70 million, the area consists of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Macao SAR as well as nine cities in the Pearl River Delta in south China’s Guangdong Province such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Dongguan. It is one of the major areas in China for coordinated regional development, which also include Beijing-tianjin-hebei region, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Yellow River Basin.

“One Country, Two Systems” is the greatest advantage in the fast development of the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong, though all parts of China, have different social systems, and thus, have respective advantages in complementing and supporting each other in development.

More importantly, the Central Government and relevant local governments have issued a lot of preferential and supportive policies to encourage Hong Kong and Macao to further deepen economic cooperation with the mainland, so that the Greater Bay Area can play a leading role in the whole country’s economic development and opening up. More and more people, especially young people throughout the world, are chasing their dreams in the area with their enthusiasm and entrepreneurship. According to the Report on Hong Kong’s Business Environment: A Place With Unique Advantages and Unlimited Opportunities issued by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2021, “One Country, Two Systems” has laid a solid foundation for Hong Kong’s long-term security, stability and steady development.

Under “One Country, Two Systems,” Hong Kong and Macao have signed the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements (CEPA) and other facilitating measures, making Hong Kong and Macao the irreplaceable gateways connecting China and the rest of the world. All these have injected new impetus to the development of the Greater Bay Area.

The development strategy of the Greater Bay Area is a major national development strategy that Chinese President Xi Jinping has personally planned, deployed and promoted, thus reflecting the strong determination and ambition of the Chinese Government. It occupies an important position in China’s development strategy. In the new era, Hong Kong and Macao are cooperating more closely with their partners in the mainland to, on the one hand, maintain their own long-term stability and prosperity, and, on the other, further promote China’s reform and opening up together with mainland cities.