Cross-border tech and taxes: the big Hong Kong debates at Boao’s Greater Bay Area brainstorming session
Carrie Lam says city has a lot to gain but support needed from Beijing to realise integration plans
Hong Kong’s finance and research industries have much to gain from deeper integration with mainland China’s economy and there is no need for the city to compete with manufacturing hubs like Dongguan and Shenzhen.
That was the assessment of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor during a “brainstorming” panel discussion on plans for the Greater Bay Area – an economic development plan to meld the city with Guangdong and Macau – at the Boao Forum for Asia on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on Monday.
The plan’s area encompasses 65 million people and the scheme likened to the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York metropolitan area. It is designed to foster Hong Kong’s integration with the mainland.
Lam said she hoped the plan would be launched soon and Beijing would support good ideas to bring it to fruition.
“In fact, if we really want to push the Greater Bay Area ahead, and if we want to see a breakthrough, we definitely need big support from the central government,” she said.
Guangdong governor Ma Xingrui and former Hong Kong financial secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung were also on the panel.