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E-mail China.org.cn, April 8, 2024
CRNTT:
Five years ago, the Outline Development Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was released. What results have been achieved in the past five years? What other measures will be taken to promote the construction of the GBA? Thank you.
Zhang Hu:
Thank you for your questions and your attention to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA. Over the past five years, Guangdong has always kept in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest expectations, insisted on taking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA as our key work, and collaborated with Hong Kong and Macao to actively promote its construction, which has achieved remarkable results. The achievements are mainly apparent in five areas:
First, the comprehensive economic strength has reached a new level. The combined regional GDP of the GBA increased from 10.8 trillion yuan in 2018 to over 14 trillion yuan in 2023, contributing to one-ninth of China's GDP within less than 0.6% of the country's landmass. The real economy has seen better development. Guangdong now owns eight 1-trillion-yuan industrial clusters in areas such as new generation electronic information and green petrochemicals.
Second, our capacity for scientific and technological innovation continues to grow. We have made comprehensive efforts to build the GBA into an international sci-tech innovation center, a comprehensive national science center, and a magnet for high-level professionals. National major projects such as the Pengcheng Laboratory and the Guangzhou Laboratory have been established in the area. At present, there are 75,000 national-level high-tech enterprises in this area, 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. In terms of comprehensive capacity of regional innovation, Guangdong has ranked first nationwide for seven consecutive years.
Third, the internal and external communication networks have been improved at a fast pace. Guangdong's high-speed railway has 2,838 kilometers of operation mileage, and the public transit system in the GBA continues to improve. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) has been completed and is functional, so travel time between major cities in the GBA is now at most an hour. The annual passenger throughput within the GBA airports exceeds 280 million, and the annual container throughput of the local ports exceeds 85 million TEUs. Its shipping network covers major cities and key trade ports worldwide.
Fourth, the construction of major cooperation platforms has been accelerated. The tax policy of "opening up the first line and controlling the second line" in Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Zhuhai city has been implemented in a smooth and orderly fashion since it took effect on March 1 of this year. (The "first line" refers to the border between Hengqin and the Macao Special Administrative Region and the "second line" refers to the border between Hengqin and other parts of the Chinese mainland.) Tax policy dividends benefit Guangdong and Macao; Qianhai in Shenzhen has introduced China's first investor protection regulations and has actively promoted cooperation with Hong Kong in modern service industries such as finance and law; the three exchanges — the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, the Guangzhou Shipping Exchange, and the Canton Data Exchange — have been established in Nansha. A comprehensive service base has been inaugurated and in operation to help Chinese companies "go global." The Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone is gaining momentum.
Fifth, market integration is gradually improving. A number of landmark projects such as the "Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Connect" policy, the "Bay Area Social Security Service" program, the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Scheme, and Cross-border Public Services have been implemented. Since the implementation of the "Northbound Travel for Macau Vehicles" and "Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles" schemes, the number of vehicles solely registered in Hong Kong and Macao, or so-called single-plated vehicles, which pass through the Zhuhai Highway port of the HZMB, has exceeded 2 million. The three places jointly announced a total of 183 GBA standards covering food, traditional Chinese medicine, elderly care and other fields.
Going forward, we will follow the new positioning of "one pivot, two areas" given to the GBA by General Secretary Xi Jinping and work with Hong Kong and Macao to actively build the GBA into a world-class bay area and one of the best developed bay areas in the world.
That's all from me for your questions. Thank you.
