The 2019 Qianhai Cooperation Forum was held in Shenzhen on Friday. Over 800 guests attended the forum, which focused on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Huang Liuquan, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said at the opening ceremony of the forum that a number of preferential policies have been rolled out for the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Exchanges and cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have been intensified, and Huang said the local authorities should take full advantage of the policies to push forward the high quality development of the Greater Bay Area while adhering to the policy of “one country, two systems.”
Entrusted by the Shenzhen Party chief and mayor, Shenzhen Vice Mayor Liu Qingsheng pointed out that the Shenzhen city government regards the construction of the Greater Bay Area as a major historical opportunity and platform for Shenzhen’s reform and opening up in the new era. Liu said Shenzhen’s economy has maintained good development momentum with its focus on high quality development. Qianhai is playing a strategically important role in the development of the Greater Bay Area.
Chan Mo-po, Hong Kong Financial Secretary, pointed out that Hong Kong has been positioned as an international finance center, a major port for international trade, an aviation hub, a global offshore RMB business hub, and an international asset management and risk control center in the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong aims to develop the high-end finance, international trade, modern logistics and professional service sectors of the Greater Bay Area.
Chen Shou-shiun, chairman of the Monetary Authority of Macao, said that Macao, a free port and a separate customs zone, is qualified to serve as a test field for innovative cooperation in the Greater Bay Area. Macao aims to build itself into a “world tourism and leisure center” and an “economic and trade cooperation platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries,” Chen said.
Two parallel seminars were held after the opening ceremony, focusing on issues like rule convergence and cooperation development, free trade experimentation and bay area construction, financial innovation and risk management, and construction of a new scientific and technological innovation system.