Chief Executive emphasizes SAR's role in development of Greater Bay Area

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday called on strengthened efforts with Guangdong province to promote high-quality development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and to make greater contributions to the nation's development.

Lee made the remarks when meeting a high-level delegation from Guangdong, led by provincial governor Wang Weizhong, at the Hong Kong/Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference held in Hong Kong on Tuesday afternoon.

The joint conference, co-chaired by Lee and Wang, aims at deepening Hong Kong-Guangdong cooperation and promoting the high-quality development of the Bay Area.

Delivering an opening speech at the conference, Lee said this year marks the fourth anniversary of the publication of the Outline Development Plan for the Greater Bay Area amid the full resumption of personnel exchanges between the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the mainland.

Against such a backdrop, Lee called on Hong Kong and Guangdong to work together and actively promote the high-quality development of the Bay Area in line with the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the just-ended two sessions.

Lee mentioned the newly established Hong Kong and Macao work office under the CPC Central Committee, saying the reform will strengthen the central authorities' leadership over the work of Hong Kong and lay a hardened foundation for the long-term implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle in Hong Kong.

Lee also pledged the Hong Kong government will continue to unite all sectors of the community and facilitate the flows of people, cargo, information and capital in a bid to build the Bay Area into a world-class cluster that can lure top scientific talent from across the globe.

The joint conference was established in 1998, shortly after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, as a mechanism to strengthen coordination on issues of mutual concern, as well as promote cooperation and exchanges between Hong Kong and Guangdong.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday morning, Lee revealed he would convene a meeting of the Steering Group on Integration into National Development on Wednesday.

Lee pledged that the Hong Kong government will keep encouraging officials and public servants to visit the mainland, especially the other cities in the Bay Area, enabling them to have in-depth communication with local counterparts and figure out win-win policies for the region's shared interests.

The chief executive recently concluded a weeklong trip in Beijing. He visited 11 central ministries and institutions and met with Hong Kong business people and students working and studying in the capital.

For the past month after the resumption of quarantine-free cross-boundary travel, many industries and sectors have regained vitality, with busy scenes returning to many tourist attractions, Lee said, noting that Hong Kong welcomed over 100,000 tourists from the mainland on Saturday alone.

Hong Kong's various sectors have turned out in droves to reconnect and rekindle ties with the Chinese mainland, racing to get a head start.

A delegation with over 100 representatives of commercial chambers, international corporations and foreign diplomatic missions in Hong Kong began a five-day trip on Sunday to four mainland cities in the Bay Area to examine the region's latest developments and to seek opportunities. The tour was organized by the Commissioner's Office of China's Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong SAR, and is headed by office Commissioner Liu Guangyuan.

On Monday, a high-level delegation from the Hong Kong Judiciary, led by Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, kicked off a three-day visit to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.