Outline Development Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Unveiled

The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Plan) - officially announced on 18^th February - positions the Macao SAR as ‘a hub of exchange and co-operation where traditional Chinese culture prevails and other cultures flourish in harmony’ (the Hub). In addition, Macao is positioned as ‘a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure’ and ‘the Commercial and Trade Co-operation Service Platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries’ as proposed in the People’s Republic of China’s Twelfth Five Year Plan and Thirteenth Five Year Plan.

In observing that the territory’s ‘One Centre, One Platform’ positioning and the building of ‘the Hub’ would place Macao as the connection point between China and the world, Macao SAR Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On said the territory must seize this substantive commonality. In so doing, its global leisure tourism appeal would facilitate the co-operation and harmony of multiple cultures whilst boosting the commercial and trading ties between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Important aspects outlined

Comprising 11 chapters, the strategic objectives of the Plan lie in its proposed development of the ‘9+2 cities’ in the Pearl River Delta and the fostering of the country’s socio-economic development and transformation of social administration to create a cutting-edge world class Greater Bay Area.

The Plan - covering from now to 2022 in the immediate term, and extending to 2035 in the long term - outlines the basic principles, strategic positioning, development objectives and spatial layout of the Greater Bay Area, and envisions the development of an international innovation and technology hub. The Hub calls for expediting infrastructural connectivity, a globally competitive modern industrial system, enhanced ecological conservation, and the development of a ‘quality circle’ for living, working and travelling. This, in turn, will strengthen co-operation and participation in the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative, jointly developing Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao co-operation platforms, and so forth.

Supporting Macao’s ‘achieve prosperity through sea’ policy

In a supplementary article - ‘Integration in the context of national development and adopting the mission attributed to Macao in the new era’ - the CE remarks that the Plan specifies two important missions for Macao; namely, as a ‘hub of exchange and co-operation where traditional Chinese culture prevails and other cultures flourish in harmony’ and as a territory which can ‘strengthen cultural confidence, and jointly take forward the transmission and development of the fine traditions of Chinese culture’, the latter alluding to the unique institutional strengths, historical position, and rich culture and history of Macao. The aforementioned missions also signify Macao will bear more responsibilities and missions in the future, and that related development would be based upon current positions and missions.

The article also mentions that Macao is a coastal city ‘born’ of the sea, thus the Plan specifically supports Macao’s scientific devising and implementation of a medium and long-term marine development plan plus the development of associated industries such as marine tourism, marine technology and marine biology. In addition, the Plan offers Macao a wonderful opportunity for the ‘achievement of prosperity through land’. Coordinated co-operation is based upon China’s positioning of Macao, its search for suitable cities and enterprises for co-operation, the best path of co-operation, and the most efficient and creative models of partnership.

Macao supports cultural aspects of Greater Bay Area

The Chief Executive led a Macao delegation to attend a seminar on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area held in Hong Kong on 21^st February. Co-organised by Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR Government, the seminar focused upon issues surrounding the Plan, analysis and research of the planning of the Greater Bay Area, arrangement and promotion of the implementation of the planning, and advice for the co-development of a world-class Greater Bay Area.

During the seminar the CE pledged that the Macao SAR would upgrade its abilities whilst enhancing regional co-operation - known as a two-pronged approach - in its participation in the development of the Greater Bay Area, further tapping into the advantages of Macao as a ‘World Centre of Tourism and Leisure’ and ‘Commercial and Trade Co-operation Service Platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries’.

It would also enhance economic diversification, while implementing co-ordinated development strategies and the benefits of policies and creativity to transform major cities and hinterland into a Greater Bay Area of economic diversity. It would strive to construct ‘a hub of exchange and co-operation where traditional Chinese culture prevails and other cultures flourish in harmony’ helping further the cultural construction of the Greater Bay Area.