Hong Kong leader lays out steps to better link city with rest of Greater Bay Area

Airport Authority to acquire more shares in Zhuhai airport, a smaller facility catering to domestic travel, to boost aviation sector

Government to support scheme for companies to hire and place 2,000 university graduates to work, among other measures

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The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge connecting to mainland China. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 9:05pm, 25 Nov 2020Updated: 2:29am, 26 Nov 2020

Beijing’s plan to create a southern regional powerhouse took centre stage in the policy address of Hong Kong’s leader on Wednesday, with a series of measures announced to better integrate the city with its neighbours, especially in the aviation and technology sectors.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also outlined a new employment scheme to encourage businesses with a presence both in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to recruit and send 2,000 local university graduates over the border.

The initiatives come after Lam and five other top officials travelled to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen for talks on pushing forward the scheme, which aims to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine other southern cities.

Beijing has announced that Shenzhen will be the linchpin of the Greater Bay Area. Photo Martin Chan

Lam revealed in her policy address that during the trip, she secured Beijing’s support for measures spanning seven policy areas.

She said Hong Kong’s Airport Authority would acquire more shares in Zhuhai airport, a smaller facility in the bay area catering to domestic travel, to build a “world-class aviation cluster”.

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