This Feb 24, 2020 aerial photo shows the Haizhu wetland and the Canton Tower in the distance in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
A high-level trade and investment conference, organized by the Department of Commerce of Guangdong province, has attracted more than 500 participating organizations, including multinationals, financial institutions, trade associations, scientific research groups and Chinese mainland companies in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
“The internationalization level of Hong Kong and the city’s capabilities to connect global resources, combined with the niches of Guangdong’s strong manufacturing prowess and huge market size, will generate a ‘one-plus-one can be larger than two’ multiplying effect,” said Zhang Jinsong, director-general of Guangdong’s Department of Commerce.
The Guangdong Investment and Trade Policy Promotion Conference is the first large-scale promotional event organized by the province’s trade and investment promotion agency since Hong Kong SAR and the Chinese mainland resumed full normal travel on Feb 6
Delivering the keynote speech on Wednesday, Zhang spoke of how Guangdong can promote its manufacturing industry, and develop the headquarters economy by luring multinational enterprises to establish their regional, functional and research and development headquarters in the province.
The Guangdong Investment and Trade Policy Promotion Conference is the first large-scale promotional event organized by the province’s trade and investment promotion agency since Hong Kong SAR and the Chinese mainland resumed full normal travel on Feb 6.
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Zhang said Guangdong and the HKSAR can deepen cooperation in four areas — investment promotion, exhibitions, trade and finance.
“Guangdong and Hong Kong should join hands to establish long-term investment promotion cooperation channels, give full play to Hong Kong’s international advantages, promote the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to better connect with global resources, and lure more large world-class and good companies to settle in the province,” he urged.
“Hong Kong can offer high-quality financial support, such as more renminbi financing, cementing the city as the preferred platform for issuing renminbi-denominated debt securities, and connecting the mainland and international carbon-emission markets,” said Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, a Standing Committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Choi, who also chairs the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong, stressed that Guangdong and the SAR can strengthen collaboration in industrial layout planning to attract more Guangdong manufacturing companies to settle in the Northern Metropolis Area.
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“Both sides can also explore the construction of a safe cross-border data flow mechanism, and the setting up of an offshore data center to lay the foundation for developing the international data center business,” he said.
Guangdong — the nation’s most populous province – recorded a gross domestic product of 12.9 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) last year, with the total value of foreign trade imports and exports reaching 8.3 trillion yuan, while the actual utilization of foreign capital was $27.9 billion.
“Through strategies and macro perspectives to coordinate cross-departmental work and strengthen communication with the mainland authorities, we hope that Guangdong and Hong Kong can further push forward the plan to increase the flow of people, goods, capital and information in the Greater Bay Area,” said Bernard Chan Pak-li, under-secretary for commerce and economic development.
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“In pushing high-quality development, Guangdong and Hong Kong can have more development opportunities. Guangdong will be offering more investment opportunities for Hong Kong,” said Liu Yajun, deputy director-general of the Economic Affairs Department and head of the Commercial Office of Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR.
The 2023 Global Investment Promotion Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, organized by the governments of Guangdong and the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, is due to be held in Guangzhou in October or November this year. Last year, the conference sealed agreements on 853 projects with a total investment of 2.5 trillion yuan.