Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

This refers to the city clusters that encompass China’s two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and nine cities of neighboring Guangdong Province: Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai. The gross economy of this greater bay area now ranks among the world’s top four bay areas.

The idea of building a city cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an outcome of the constant integration of the cities in the Pearl River Delta region.

The Framework Agreement on Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation, in 2010, contained a key program to build a pleasant livable zone along the Pearl River estuary. Four years later in 2014, the Report on the Work of the Shenzhen Municipal Government set the goal of developing a bay area economy, and included Guangdong’s city clusters located in the bay area and the nearby Hong Kong and Macao into a complete plan.

Thewhite paper Joining Hands to Build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road – Vision and Actions, jointly released in 2015 byChina’s National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Commerce, called for further cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In 2016 China’s 13th Five-year Plan contained a provision “to support Hong Kong and Macao to play an important role in the cooperation in the pan-Pearl River Delta and promote a platform for cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and cross-provincial cooperation.” In 2017, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area appeared in both the Report on the Work of the Government and the report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC, becoming a national strategy.

The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2017 listed the planning of the Greater Bay Area as a task for 2018. This marked the formal start of strategic planning.

The Greater Bay Area is important to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and a new round of high-level opening up. It is conducive to the exchanges and cooperation between China’s interior and Hong Kong and Macao, to the two special regions’ participation in national development strategies, and to their competitiveness and long-lasting prosperity and stability.

粵港澳大灣區

粵港澳大灣區是指由香港、澳門兩個特別行政區和廣東省的廣州、深圳、珠海、佛山、中山、東莞、肇慶、江門、惠州等九市組成的城市群。粵港澳大灣區經濟體量已躋身世界前四大灣區。

粵港澳大灣區城市群概念的提出是一個逐步的過程，是包括港澳在內的珠三角城市融合發展不斷深化的結果。2010年，《粵港合作框架協議》將建設環珠江口宜居灣區列為重點行動計劃。2014年，深圳市政府工作報告明確提出構建“灣區經濟”，把粵港澳城市群勾連起的灣區作為一個整體規劃。2015年，由國家發展改革委、外交部、商務部聯合發布的《推動共建絲綢之路經濟帶和21世紀海上絲綢之路的愿景和行動》提出，要深化與港澳臺合作，打造粵港澳大灣區。2016年，“支持港澳在泛珠三角合作中發揮重要作用,推動粵港澳大灣區和跨省區重大合作平臺建設”被寫入“十三五”規劃。2017年，粵港澳大灣區建設先后被寫入政府工作報告和十九大報告，被提升到國家發展戰略層面。2017年12月，中央經濟工作會議將“科學規劃粵港澳大灣區”納入2018年經濟工作，這標志著粵港澳大灣區戰略規劃進入正式實施、全面啟動的新階段。

粵港澳大灣區將在中國“一帶一路”倡議推進和新一輪高水平對外開放中發揮重要作用。推進建設粵港澳大灣區，有利于深化內地和港澳交流合作，對港澳參與國家發展戰略，提升競爭力，保持長期繁榮穩定具有重要意義。