Carrie Lam: The Greater Bay Area lends strong support to the “Belt and Road”

As the country’s grand development strategy, the “Belt and Road initiative” (B&R) has rolled out a number of important projects since its launch five years ago. According to Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, Hong Kong as an important node along the B&R could put its triple strengths from “one country, two systems” to work and become an international hub for the initiative; it could also function as a platform for financing and professional services.

Lam pointed out that Hong Kong is not only a “going-out” platform for Mainland companies, but also the preferred portal for foreign companies, including those operated by overseas Chinese merchants, to tap into the Mainland market. Furthermore, professional talents from multiple disciplines, including financing, legal, accounting, planning, engineering, project management, can all be found in Hong Kong, making the HKSAR well positioned to be an integrated professional service platform for overseas Chinese merchants along the B&R. To prevent Hong Kong from lagging behind in economic development, the HKSAR government is actively assisting Hong Kong merchants in expanding the B&R and overseas market. It is now seeking to enter into free trade agreements with more trade partners, as well as tax agreements that help prevent triple taxation.

The construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area is a major opportunity for Hong Kong. Lam stressed that one of the objectives for constructing the Bay Area is to lift the level of market opening of the Bay Area to connect externally to international market, and internally to radiate and facilitate development around the Pearl River Delta and Pan-PRD area, lending strong support to the B&R initiative. She believed that the Bay Area would promote diversified development for financial industries. As for the social development of Hong Kong under the constraint of housing, elderly care, and land supply, the Bay Area could provide space for better ways of living that Hong Kong citizens have been longing for. She revealed that the government’s priority work will focus on making the Bay Area an international technology and innovation center, so that Hong Kong’s competitive industries could conveniently land in the Bay Area. By putting forward policies to drive innovation and breakthroughs, the interconnectivity amongst all cities of the Bay Area is fostered.