Guangdong: Join hands with Hong Kong and Macao to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area

　　China News Service, March 29th: The State Council Information Office held a press conference on the 29th on "unswervingly promoting high-quality development efforts in Guangdong and taking the forefront in promoting Chinese-style modernization." Zhang Hu, member of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor, said at the meeting that he would work with Hong Kong and Macao to actively build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area and the best-developed bay area.

　　At the meeting, a reporter asked, five years ago, the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" was publicly released. What results have been achieved in the past five years? What other measures will be taken to promote the construction of the Greater Bay Area?

　　In this regard, Zhang Hu said that in the past five years, Guangdong has always kept in mind the General Secretary’s earnest instructions, adhered to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as the “outline”, and worked with Hong Kong and Macao to actively promote the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and achieved remarkable results. Mainly reflected in five aspects:

First, the comprehensive economic strength has reached a new level.

The economic aggregate of the Greater Bay Area has increased from 10.8 trillion yuan in 2018 to exceeding 14 trillion yuan in 2023. The Greater Bay Area has created 1/9 of the national economic aggregate with less than 0.6% of the country's land area. The real economy has become more developed, and Guangdong has formed eight trillion-yuan industrial clusters such as new generation electronic information and green petrochemicals.

Second, scientific and technological innovation capabilities continue to improve.

The construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Science and Technology Innovation Center, comprehensive national science center, and high-level talent highland has been comprehensively advanced, and "national assets" such as Pengcheng and Guangzhou Laboratories have been laid out one after another. Currently, there are 75,000 national-level high-tech enterprises, including a number of leading technology companies such as Huawei, Tencent, BYD, Midea, and Gree. The "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" technology cluster has ranked second in the world for four consecutive years. Guangdong’s comprehensive regional innovation capabilities have ranked first in the country for seven consecutive years.

Third, the internal and external communication network has been accelerated and improved.

Guangdong's high-speed railway has an operating mileage of 2,838 kilometers, and the "Greater Bay Area on Track" has become more complete. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has been completed and operational, and one-hour connectivity between major cities in the Greater Bay Area has basically been achieved. The annual passenger throughput capacity of the Greater Bay Area airport group exceeds 280 million, and the annual container throughput capacity of the port group exceeds 85 million TEUs. The route network covers major cities around the world and major trade ports in the world.

Fourth, the construction of major cooperation platforms has been accelerated.

The Hengqin branch line management is running smoothly and orderly, and it was officially put into operation on March 1 this year. Tax policy dividends benefit Guangdong and Macao; Qianhai introduced the country's first investor protection regulations and actively promoted cooperation with Hong Kong in modern service industries such as finance and law; Nansha has launched three major exchanges for futures, shipping and data, and Chinese companies have "taken the initiative" "Go out" comprehensive service base was inaugurated and put into operation; Shenzhen-Hong Kong scientific and technological innovation cooperation in the Loop is gaining momentum.

Fifth, the level of market integration is gradually improving.

A number of landmark items such as "Hong Kong and Macao Pharmaceutical and Device Connect", "Bay Area Social Security Connect", "Cross-border Financial Management Connect" and "Government Services" cross-border access have been implemented. Since the implementation of the "Macau Cars Going North" and "Hong Kong Cars Going North" policies, the number of Hong Kong and Macao single-plate vehicles entering and exiting through the Zhuhai Highway Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has exceeded 2 million. The three places jointly announced a total of 183 "Bay Area Standards" covering food, traditional Chinese medicine, elderly care and other fields.

　　Zhang Hu emphasized that next, in accordance with the new positioning of "one point, two places" given to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by the General Secretary, we will work with Hong Kong and Macao to actively build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area and the best-developed bay area.