As the plan for developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been upgraded to the level of national strategy, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday led a delegation to start a three-day inspection visit to several cities in the Greater Bay Area, highlighting the great importance attached to the development plan.　　As a matter of fact, development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is of great strategic significance, concerning the further reform and opening up of China's economy, the promotion of regional cooperation and the building of a world-class centre of innovation industry.　　It also provides an important opportunity for Hong Kong to further upgrade its status and function as an international financial hub.

　　Hong Kong must proactively integrate itself into the development of the Greater Bay Area.　　This can help overcome Hong Kong's shortcomings of being lacking in manufacturing industry and a small market, and with the help of the Greater Bay Area's economic effects Hong Kong can also strengthen its advantages in financial industry and push forward the development of innovative technology.　　This hopefully will help break through the bottleneck in economic development.　　Hong Kong absolutely must not fall behind.

　　Development of the Greater Bay Area could be seen as to further deepen and upgrade the cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, expanding it from previous processing trade of having "stores in front and factories behind" to overall economic integration, and further to the level of national development strategy, which is meant to shoulder the heavy task of pushing forward the deepening of reform and opening up and innovation-driven development.　　

　　In fact, the group of cities in the Greater Bay Area are mainly oriented towards the world market.　　They not only form a sizeable bay-area economic rim that could match up to the New York bay area, Tokyo bay area and San Francisco bay area, but can also provide a driving force for the One Belt One Road strategy to promote globalisation.　　As a matter of fact, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area can radiate to the whole of South China and even as far as the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, becoming an important bridgehead on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

　　In fact, the total GDP (gross domestic product) of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area reaches US$1.3 trillion, accounting for about 10 per cent of the nation's total.　　Foreign investment in the area also accounts for one fifth of the country's total.　　This underlines the Greater Bay Area's important strategic significance for China's economic development.

　　The significance of the Greater Bay Area for Hong Kong's economic development is also self-evident.　　With differently oriented development under a "division of labour", cities in the area can effectively integrate resources to complement each other's strengths.　　As Hong Kong's strength lies in its financial industry, it naturally becomes the Greater Bay Area's centre for financial services and enterprise financing.

　　Fact is that cities in the Greater Bay Area have a complete chain of manufacturing industries and vast inland market, which can make up for Hong Kong's lack of manufacturing industry and small market.　　Shenzhen already becomes a global centre of innovative industry.　　With the help of Shenzhen, Hong Kong can team up with it to promote the development of innovative industry.　　

　　To integrate itself into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong must firstly make sure what a role it will play and then work out relevant policies and measures accordingly.　　Only in this way can Hong Kong bring its strength into full play in the development of the Greater Bay Area.　　In this regard, improving our financial infrastructure becomes the priority of priorities.

　　First of all, mutual connection and exchange in financial services in the Greater Bay Area must be expanded to promote cross-boundary capital flow.　　Following the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Mainland-Hong Kong Bond Connect will be launched later this year.　　Now Hong Kong must work hard to strive for the launch of Mainland-Hong Kong Commodity Connect and New-share Connect afterwards.

　　Secondly, diversified platforms for enterprise financing should be built, including to set up a trading platform for non-listed shares and the third board for start-up enterprises, so as to coordinate with the financing needs of innovative enterprises in the Greater Bay Area.

　　Thirdly, effort must be doubled to boost the development of financial technology, especially the development of an electronic payment system that can be widely used in regional platforms, so as to lower transaction costs.

　　Amid the trend of globalisation, regional cooperation becomes the mainstream.　　The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area can become an important engine for the Chinese economy.　　At the same time, this also means the further economic integration between the Mainland and Hong Kong, which will inject new momentum for Hong Kong's economic development. 　　20 April 2017