Huang Kunming, Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC, told the Chamber’s delegation to Guangdong that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area), which is bursting with vitality, can play a leading role in Chinese modernization and create valuable opportunities for the Hong Kong business community.
The Chamber formed a delegation to visit Guangdong recently. Jonathan Choi, the Chamber’s Chairman, headed the delegation and Yin Zonghua, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, was its consultant. The delegation met with Huang Kunming, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC; Wang Weizhong, Governor of Guangdong Province, and Guo Yonghang, Mayor of Guangzhou to discuss issues such as Hong Kong businesses’ participation in the construction of the Greater Bay Area and the high-quality development of Guangdong.
Huang Kunming: Greater Bay Area creates valuable opportunities for Hong Kong business community
Huang expressed his gratitude to the Chamber for its long-term efforts in various aspects of Guangdong. He pointed out that President Xi Jinping hopes Guangdong would continue to take the lead in Chinese modernization and make the Greater Bay Area a demonstration zone for high-quality development. Building on its existing industries and transportation facilities, Guangdong makes full use of the technologies, talents, and economic and trade resources of Hong Kong and Macao, especially the important role of Hong Kong as a trade, shipping and financial centre, to make the Greater Bay Area’s economic growth of a quality comparable to that of other well-known bay areas in the world.
In his view, the Greater Bay Area has created very valuable opportunities for the business community in Hong Kong. Particularly, by 2035, high-quality development will present plentiful business opportunities. He hopes that the Hong Kong business community would seize the opportunity to showcase its strengths. In addition, in his view, Hong Kong’s business community should not give up manufacturing. For example, high-end manufacturing can be deployed in the Greater Bay Area which has a complete set of industry supporting facilities, while mid-range manufacturing can be spread to the eastern, western and northern parts of Guangdong where transportation is becoming more convenient.
Wang Weizhong: Focus on balancing the development of various regions in Guangdong
According to Wang, in view of its uneven regional development, Guangdong is focusing on addressing the gap between the development of the eastern, western and northern parts of the province and that of the Pearl River Delta, making efforts to shift industries from the Pearl River Delta to these parts in an orderly manner. He hopes that the Hong Kong business community would pay more attention to the eastern, western and northern parts of Guangdong. Regarding high-quality development, Wang believes that Guangdong should base its development on the real economy and ensure the dominance of the manufacturing sector as stated by General Secretary Xi Jinping. In his view, Hong Kong has outstanding strengths in modern services and can continue to function as a super-connector, while Guangdong can provide more opportunities for Hong Kong’s young people to study, work and start businesses in the Greater Bay Area and the province.
Guo Yonghang: Guangzhou and Hong Kong are twin engines in construction of Greater Bay Area
Guo said that Guangzhou is thoroughly studying and implementing the guiding principles of Xi Jinping’s important speech he delivered during his inspection of Guangdong, comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up with Nansha as the driving force, and continuing to deepen pragmatic cooperation between Guangzhou and Hong Kong. He hopes that the Chamber would encourage more friends from the Hong Kong business community to invest in Guangzhou. He stressed that Guangzhou is seizing the Greater Bay Area opportunity. Guangzhou and Hong Kong are two important engines in the construction of the Greater Bay Area. Among them, Nansha, which is a major strategic platform facing the world, can serve as an important vehicle for Hong Kong to integrate into national development. He hopes that the Hong Kong business community would make good use of Nansha as a platform.
Jonathan Choi: Guangdong and Hong Kong can join forces to connect domestic and international markets
Choi said that many of the Chamber’s members have been in Guangdong for development for several generations since the reform and opening-up began. At present, the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee has stated to build a new Guangdong, which presents broad prospects in the fields of science and technology, data economy, green finance, and environmental protection. Hong Kong and Guangdong can join forces, and under the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, leverage the function of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area as nodes in the dual circulation to connect domestic and international markets.
Regarding regional and international cooperation, Choi believes that Hong Kong can promote Guangdong-Hong Kong trade and investment cooperation, as well as play a unique role in telling the good story of China. As one of the three Founder Members of the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC), the Chamber will continue to step up efforts to unite overseas Chinese around the world. In addition, for the development of Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis, Choi suggested studying cooperating with the Shenzhen Boundary Control Points Economic Belt to promote the integrated development of the Northern Metropolis and Shenzhen.
While in Guangzhou, the Chamber’s delegation met and exchanged views with Linda So and So Tsz-yin, Director and Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Guangdong, respectively.
