Unleashing Hong Kong's Infinite Growth Opportunities

A few days ago, Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR thereafter) representatives had close exchanges with the mainland. During a symposium with National People’s Congress representatives in Hong Kong, Lee Ka-chiu remarked, “Hong Kong has fully opened up with the mainland and reconnected with the world.” Hong Kong is now poised to integrate into the national development strategy and contribute greatly to the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area.

Recently, the HKSAR government announced the 2023/2024 fiscal budget plan, predicting that Hong Kong’s economy will rebound significantly in 2023, with a real annual growth rate between 3.5% and 5.5%. Hong Kong, a central GBA city, is one of China’s most developed and highly-open cities. At the beginning of the new year, Hong Kong’s exchange with the mainland and the world has fast returned to normal, and the overall economic climate has also improved. As the national economy moves towards high-quality development and maintains reasonable growth, other emerging economies in the Asian region will also continue to experience rapid growth, presenting many opportunities for Hong Kong's future development.

The future of Hong Kong should be discussed in the context of the integrated development of the GBA. With access to scientific and technological innovation resources, policy conditions, and internationalized rules for free trade ports across the three regions, the GBA has demonstrated strong international competitiveness in the fields of technology innovation and manufacturing, with enormous potential for future development. As the central city, Hong Kong is well-positioned to achieve new heights. On the one hand, the world’s three major bay areas strive to transform and seek technological innovation breakthroughs. The GBA is also actively seeking innovation breakthroughs through coordinated development. On the other hand, on the first day after the Chinese Spring Festival, the provincial high-quality development conference was held in Guangdong, demonstrating the determination of reform and development and bringing many supportive policies. At the same time, with the adjustment of clearance policies, exchange and interaction between Hong Kong and the mainland are gradually resuming, enhancing the synergy and accelerating the pace of coordinated development in the GBA.

When we examine the world's major bay areas, we can identify several shared traits. They all share a common goal of fostering a market-oriented, rule-of-law, and international environment that integrates the regional economy, knowledge, and regulations. This creates a magnet for capital, technology, and talent, thereby drawing in factors of production and promoting complete integration of the region's competitive industries into the global production chain. This strategy sustains the continuous upgrading of the regional economy and technology.

Hong Kong can be integrated into the tide of high-quality development in the Mainland by promoting integrated development in the GBA. Hong Kong can leverage this trend by creating three platforms: science-education (basic research), technology-innovation (manufacturing), and internationalized rules. On this basis, the GBA is gradually becoming a first-class bay area and world-class urban agglomeration suitable for living, working, and tourism.