A high-level Hong Kong delegation secured deals worth 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) during a three-day visit to Guangdong province, while gaining insights into the region’s development.
From Monday to Wednesday, over 80 officials and business leaders from the special administrative region visited Guangdong, where they took steps to enhance Hong Kong’s economic partnerships with Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou and Shenzhen — all prominent cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Reviewing their intense schedule, which included 14 conferences and field trips, Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki said the trip would serve to encourage Hong Kong enterprises, financial institutions, and commercial chambers to explore opportunities together with their Guangdong counterparts.
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He highlighted the delegation’s visits to development zones, where they witnessed firsthand the holistic land development approach, consolidating multiple land plots. The experience they gained is expected to benefit Hong Kong’s efforts in upgrading industries, developing new quality productivity forces and integrating into the nation’s overall development, Chan told reporters in Shenzhen.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu joined the delegation on Monday in Guangzhou and attended the Guangdong-Hong Kong Deepening Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Conference, which included a signing ceremony involving 126 agreements between enterprises from both sides.
The deals cover projects in the finance, logistics, smart manufacturing, biopharmaceutical and artificial intelligence sectors.
The new partnerships will scale up economic cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong and strengthen the integration and synergy of the industrial chain, Chan said.
The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce — represented by Vice-Chairman Johnny Yu Wah-yung during the trip — told China Daily that Hong Kong’s commercial and industrial sectors should fulfill their roles as a superconnector and a “super value-adder”, and promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade within the GBA.
Federation of Hong Kong Industries Chairman Steve Chuang Tzu-hsiung and Deputy Chairman Jackie Ng said that the visit had deepened the commercial and industrial exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland cities, and had laid the foundation for further cooperation in innovation, technology, and new industries.
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Such progress is set to contribute to the advancement of the nation’s new quality productive forces and the transformation of traditional industries, they added.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council Chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok said the trip had provided inspiration for the SAR’s green and smarter-city initiatives, adding that the delegates will apply what they have learned to the city’s further development.
Chan also announced that a publicity event will take place on Friday to brief global organizations about progress with the Northern Metropolis — a mega project under construction aimed at expanding the city’s housing supply, transport infrastructure, ecological conservation, and development of industries.
