Besides being a part of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong is also an international financial, trading and shipping centre and an art and cultural hub where East meets West. As such, we should leverage our strengths to serve as an important gateway for Mainland companies to go global, and for foreign enterprises to gain access to China.

Chief Executive John Lee recently led a delegation of LegCo members to four cities in the GBA, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan and Guangzhou. We called on local government leaders, and toured leading I&T enterprises as well as robotics companies to learn more about technology developments and applications in the Mainland. We also visited tourist attractions, such as Shenzhen’s Nantou Ancient Town and Lingnan Tiandi in Foshan, which provided a glimpse into these cityscapes as well as a better understanding of how historical, cultural and artistic elements can be integrated into business development.

On our return, some members suggested that we should learn from the experiences of the GBA, a region that has seen rapid development in recent years. In fact, under the principle of One Country, Two Systems, Hong Kong has the advantages of being a common law jurisdiction with a simple and low tax regime, and offers world-class professional services and a strong connection with the international market. Our city is also the preferred service platform for Mainland businesses – especially those in the GBA – looking to go global.

 At the same time, Hong Kong is a well-known and reliable super-connector for foreign companies to enter the GBA and the wider Mainland market. To help the country bring in more overseas talent and investment, I have been urging the Government to seek support from the Central Government to issue foreigners working in Hong Kong a work pass for foreign talent in the GBA.

Hong Kong’s integration into the development of the GBA has long been the hope of the country. Back in 2009, the Framework for Development and Reform Planning for Pearl River Delta Region – published by the National Development and Reform Commission – already covered the GBA’s nine Mainland cities. The Framework also reaffirmed Hong Kong’s status as a financial hub, and encouraged the PRD region to pursue regional cooperation planning with Hong Kong and Macao. However, due to restrained efforts on the part of the authorities to promote cross-border cooperation, no significant progress has been made so far. 

In 2019, the Central Government announced the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which marked a new milestone in the development of the GBA. Now that the pandemic is behind us and Hong Kong has fully reopened to the world, the HKSAR Government should introduce more measures to actively promote GBA growth and further integrate Hong Kong into the nation’s overall development.

Jeffrey Lam
[email protected]