Located on the southern coast of the country and heart of Asia, Hong Kong enjoys fortuitous geographic advantage and is a world city leveraging on the Mainland while engaging the world. Hong Kong is well connected to Asia’s key markets, making it an ideal location for businesses to tap into the multitude of opportunities in the Mainland and Asia-Pacific region.
Positioning
Being the most international city in the Bay Area, Hong Kong has a business-friendly environment, good tradition of the rule of law, free economic system, and well-established information technology infrastructure and financial system, as well as a wealth of high-end talents and professional services with extensive.
knowledge on global markets
With a sound transport system and world-class infrastructure, Hong Kong is an international and regional transportation and logistics hub and is committed to developing into a cruise hub in the region.
Core Competencies
The Dedicated Chapter on Hong Kong and Macao in the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China (the 13th Five-Year Plan) acknowledges the functions and positioning of Hong Kong in the development of our country which includes the support for Hong Kong in consolidating and enhancing our status as international financial, shipping and trade centres; strengthening our status as a global offshore Renminbi business hub and an international asset management centre; and promoting financing services, business and commerce, logistics and professional services, etc.
Cross-boundary infrastructure
HZMB
The HZMB will significantly reduce transportation costs and time for travellers and goods. For example, the travelling time between the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal and Zhuhai will be reduced from currently three and a half hours or so to about 75 minutes, whilst the travelling time between the Hong Kong International Airport and Zhuhai will be reduced from currently four hours or so to about 45 minutes.
The Western Pearl River Delta (PRD) will fall within a reachable three-hour commuting radius of Hong Kong, enhancing the city’s position as a trade and logistics hub as goods from the Western PRD, Western Guangdong and Guangxi can better make use of the airport and container ports in Hong Kong. The HZMB will accelerate the economic integration of the PRD and its neighbouring provinces.
Hong Kong Section of the XRL
Scheduled to be commissioned in September 2018, the Hong Kong Section of the XRL will connect Hong Kong with the over 25 000-km National High Speed Rail Network.
The travelling time from the West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong to Shenzhen, Guangzhou as well as other cities in the PRD region will be greatly shortened, taking only about 14 minutes to Futian, 23 minutes to Shenzhen North and 48 minutes to Guangzhou South. Passengers can also reach other Bay Area cities through onward transfer to the PRD Intercity Rapid Transit.
LT/HYW BCP
The LT/HYW BCP will be the first road-based BCP in Hong Kong with direct access facilities for both passengers and vehicles. It connects with the Eastern Corridor to Longgang in Shenzhen and further extends to the eastern part of Guangdong Province via the Shenzhen-Huizhou Expressway (also known as Huizhou-Yantian Expressway) or Shenzhen-Shantou Expressway, providing a direct and efficient cross-boundary access to eastern Shenzhen, Huizhou, eastern Guangdong as well as the neighbouring provinces.
Upon the full commissioning of the LT/HYW BCP and Eastern Corridor, the average travelling time between Tai Po of Hong Kong and Longgang of Shenzhen would be shortened by about 22 minutes.
Key areas of work in taking forward the development of the Bay Area
The HKSAR Government’s work in taking forward the development of the Bay Area has three focuses:
1. To develop the Bay Area into an international technology and innovation center
The Bay Area has abundant resources and clear comparative edges on innovation and technology front. Hong Kong has a number of world-class universities, tremendous strength in scientific research, robust rule of law and intellectual property rights protection systems and so forth. Such strengths stem from Hong Kong’s role as an international city, which allows resources from the Mainland and across the globe to converge. Hong Kong’s highly international business environment can, on the one hand, attract international innovation and technology enterprises to enter the Bay Area, and, on the other hand, help Mainland innovation and technology enterprises go global. This would play a key role in developing the Bay Area into an international technology and innovation centre.
Among cities in the Bay Area, Shenzhen has long been Hong Kong’s major partner. Shenzhen is also the Mainland’s centre for innovation and technology. Innovation and technology is a key cooperation area under the framework of Hong Kong/Shenzhen cooperation. The joint development of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop is a key project in this regard. Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other Bay Area cities specialising in advance manufacturing can complement one another in a number of areas including capital, scientific research, and production. They can also foster a division of labour in upstream, midstream and downstream research and development (R&D) activities and cooperate to form a supply chain for commercialization of R&D results as well as jointly enhance the overall international competitiveness.
2. To facilitate the development of industries in which Hong Kong’s strengths lie in the Bay Area
Hong Kong will facilitate the development of industries where Hong Kong enjoys clear strengths into the Bay Area, especially health and tertiary education. Not only does Hong Kong utilise the rich resources in the Bay Area to address issues such as land and manpower shortages in Hong Kong, but Hong Kong can also help the Mainland develop new industries and raise the standards of its professional services. There is a market for these industries in Guangdong Province and both sides can complement one another. If we can make use of the opportunities brought about by the development of the Bay Area through policy innovation and breakthrough, residents of Guangdong Province will be able to enjoy services of higher quality, and industries in which Hong Kong enjoys strengths will also be able to expand their scope of development.
3. To strengthen interconnectivity amongst the Bay Area cities through policy innovation and breakthrough
There are two systems and three separate customs territories in the Bay Area. Although trade liberalisation has essentially been achieved, there are still restrictions to the flow of people, goods, capital and information within the Bay Area. At the daily living level, Hong Kong residents studying, living and working in the Mainland are still treated differently compared to their Mainland counterparts. This brings inconveniences to Hongkongers living in the Mainland and also makes it harder for Hong Kong enterprises which are expanding in the Mainland to attract talents from Hong Kong to work in the Bay Area.
The Government shall grasp opportunities brought about by the development of the Bay Area, break through existing frameworks, strengthen interconnectivity amongst Bay Area cities, and foster the flow of factors of production, thereby enhancing the flow of people, goods, capital and information between Hong Kong and other cities in the Bay Area.