Connect, cooperate and develop were the buzzwords reiterated continuously among representatives from industry, government and academia gathered to discuss globalized unity and business partnerships.

The Global Bay Areas Cooperation and Development Forum, held on March 29 in San Francisco, drew hundreds of attendees from China's newly established Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as the bay areas of New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and others.

The full-day agenda included keynote speeches, panel discussions and presentations sharing expertise on challenges such as traffic congestion, climate change and housing shortages, opportunities were identified and ways to offset protectionism were brainstormed.

The forum was held in line with China's development plans for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, noted Wang Donghua, consul general at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.

Wang noted that globalization and collaboration have led to the booming economic success of bay areas worldwide, while cautioning that restrictions on the flow of technology and intellectual property only led to "self-imposed isolation".

Echoing Wang, Steven Clark Rockefeller Jr, chairman of PFC & SKJ Culture, recalled how global trade had enabled the Rockefeller family in New York to ship its first barrel of oil to China through the port of Guangzhou.

"We are no stranger to this region in world trade and economic exchange," said Rockefeller. "Hong Kong and Macao are international financial centers, leisure cities and international metropolises we are familiar with. The Pearl River Delta represented by Guangzhou and Shenzhen is a world-famous manufacturing powerhouse and emerging technology innovation center."

Participants agreed that economic globalization is irreversible and vowed to work together to achieve win-win cooperation.

"The San Francisco Bay Area is like one big shared platform, and people are not in their corner just doing their own thing – they're working together," said Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council.

Guangdong province, in the spotlight since China released its outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on Feb 18, sent a strong delegation to the forum to elaborate on the comprehensive blueprint for the area's strategic role, development goals and spatial layout.

Luo Hua, deputy editor-in-chief of People's Daily Online, explained that there are five strategic roles of the Greater Bay Area: "to become a vibrant world-class city cluster, an international innovation and technology hub, a major pillar for the Belt and Road Initiative, a demonstration area for the deep cooperation between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as a quality area in terms of living, working and traveling."

Rockefeller said his expectations for China's bay area were "high".