Source: 21st Century Business Herald

Lead by central cities and bring the development of city groups has already become a new mode for regional development.

In order to fully implement all tasks for coordinated development strategies of the region, facilitate the coordinated development to move forward into a higher level and better quality, On November 29th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have released Suggestions on Constructing a More Effective Mechanism of Coordinated Development of the Region (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Suggestions’).

TheSuggestions proposed that lead the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area with centered on Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and drive the innovative and green development of Pearl River-Xijiang River economic belt. Strengthen the coordination and connection of major strategies such as the construction of the ‘Belt and Road’, the synergetic development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the development of the Yangzte River Economic Zone and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, and promote the cooperation between different regions.

Lead by central cities and bring the development of city groups has already become a new mode for regional development. For the four central cities in the Greater Bay Area pointed out in the Suggestions, experts think that these nominated cities are also important node cities in the national strategic layout. These cities will shoulder the important function of bringing the development of radiating areas and will become the new engine of leading the development of city groups.

Guangdong will compile and implement the Construction Planning of the Inter-city Railway in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

November 27th, the Seventh Session of the 13th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of Guangdong Province was held in Guangzhou. The conference has listened to the provincial people’s government report on the layout plan of the13th Five-Year-Plan of the National Economy and Social Development of Guangdong Province implementation mid-stage assessment and index adjustment draft.

Ge Changwei, the director of Guangdong Development and Reform Commission has mentioned in the report that the first thing of the integrative development of the Greater Bay Area is the integration of transportation infrastructure. Guangdong will improve the comprehensive transportation corridor from the Greater Bay Area to the east, west and north of Guangdong and neighboring provinces, compile and implement the Construction Planning of the Inter-city Railway in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. Speed up the construction of river-crossing channels of the Pearl River Estuary such as Shenzhen-Jiangmen section of Fo-Guan and Shen-Mao railway, plan the construction of the railway of Shen-Chan and Zhu-Jiang-Zhao, etc., construct the one-hour rail rapid transit network in the Greater Bay Area.

It is reported that Guangdong province will deeply implement the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area development strategy, accelerate the form of a new overall opening pattern. Spare no effort in promoting the construction of the Greater Bay Area, work together with Hong Kong and Macau to build a new and closer cooperative mode with higher level. Create an in-depth cooperation demonstration area between mainland China and Hong Kong-Macau. Build a diverse cooperation platform and explore the further opening-up of Nansha, Qianhai and Hengqin to Hong Kong and Macau.

Top 500 manufacturers in Guangdong: Huawei ranks No.1 and Foshan ranks No.2 in the number of companies on the list.
On November 27th, the Research Report on 2018 Top 500 Manufacturers in Guangdong (hereinafter refer to as the Report) published on Guangdong International Robot & Intelligent Equipment Exposition shows that Huawei ranks the top among the Top 500 Manufacturers in Guangdong. Selected by cities, Shenzhen has the largest number of companies on the list.

Overall speaking, the total revenue of the Top 500 Manufacturers in Guangdong in 2018 is 4.13 trillion RMB, and increased 31.53% compare to that in 2017. Company average avenue is 8.267 billion RMB and it is 31.22% more than that in 2017. The growth of the company revenue is relatively fast and the average value is 28.41%. In which, 428 companies has had revenue increase and only 72 has witnessed a negative increase. From the aspect of benefit, in 2018, there are 428 companies has made profit and 18 companies has had loss. The total profit of 2018 is 247.5 billion RMB and increased 41.43% compare to that in 2017.

Among 21 cities in Guangdong, Shenzhen has the largest number of companies on the list, which is 143 companies; followed by Foshan with the number of 109; and Guangzhou ranks the third with 96 companies. These three cities has formed the first echelon with gathering 348 companies out of the Top 500. Following closely are traditional manufacturing powers such as Dongguan, Zhongshan and Zhuhai, etc.

International Financial Forum: The financial development of the Greater Bay Area should match with the innovative development.

On November 24th and 25th, the 15th International Financial Forum (IFF) Annual Global Conference was held in Guangzhou. In the round-table conference of ‘Maritime Silk Road Financial Cooperation: Co-constructing the International Financial Hub of the Greater Bay Area’, experts from different areas and company representatives have made analysis with the topic of the financial cooperation prospect of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Guests pointed out that the Greater Bay Area has provided new opportunities in financial areas such as securities and insurance industry, etc. In addition, Financial fields should also notice that the financial development of the Greater Bay Area should match with the development of technical innovation, and provide bigger space for technical innovation. In the emerging financial technology, all cities in the Greater Bay Area should join forces and break the limits with using technology.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area financial development report thinks that the spatial distribution of the Greater Bay Area financial industry has gradually developed from Hong Kong ‘outshine others’ to ‘central-periphery’ structure with Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou as core areas. The special regional advantage and development potential of the Greater Bay Area, as well as three different supervision systems, can maintain the control to the regional operational risks and can be the bridgehead of the overall opening-up.

Guangzhou: From the release of Transportation Hub Master Planning to the starting of construction of six metro lines at once.
Benchmarking to the world-class bay areas. The premise of integrated economic development is the connectivity of infrastructure. In Guangzhou, two big news have been released in transportation layout in November: the release of Guangzhou Comprehensive Transportation Hub Master Planning (2018-2035) and the starting of construction of six new metro lines on the same day.

In which, Guangzhou municipal government executive meeting has reviewed and approved Transportation Hub Master Planning, making a ‘road map’ for building an international comprehensive transportation hub. Guangzhou will form a ‘double core and dual poles’ passenger terminals layout and a ‘dual core and one belt’ freight hub layout.

For the staring of the construction of new metro lines, Chen Zhiying, member of standing committee of Guangzhou municipal Party committee and executive vice mayor, said at the groundbreaking ceremony that “a new round of network building will bring a new wave of urban construction and economic growth of Guangzhou. After new lines have been finished, the concentration and radiation function of Guangzhou as the national central city and the Greater Bay Area core city will be further improved.

Currently, moving eastward and expanding to the south has moved the development focus of Guangzhou further east. Reply on the high-speed train, metro, express way and other transportation facilities, Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau has further assembled together during continuous development.

Shenzhen: accelerate the gathering of global resources.

Recently, the China City Innovative Competitiveness Development Report (2018) blue book has jointly released by institutions including China Science and Technology Exchange Center and the Institute for International Strategic Studies of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China, etc. shows that Shenzhen ranks No.1 in innovative competitiveness among China sub-provincial cities, and top 3 in China City Innovative Competitiveness.

Currently, Shenzhen is forming an innovation ecology close loop of policy, capital, talents and industries. It is reported that Shenzhen established 10 Nobel Prize scientists research institutions including Grubbs Institute, Shenzhen and Shenzhen Laser Institute Shuji Nakamura Laser Lighting Lab, etc. By the first three quarter, Shenzhen has over 12 thousand national high-tech enterprises, and high-tech enterprises has realized production value of 1663.9 billion RMB, the year-on-year growth is 11.24%. Capital element is also an important reason why Shenzhen has attracted the gathering of innovative enterprises in the early phase. With the establishing of SCGC, Sequoia Capital and Temasek Capital and other renowned domestic and international venture capitals have been attracted to gather in Shenzhen.

According to Lin Jiang, vice director of the Center for Studies of Hong Kong, Macao and  Pearl River Delta Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences in Universities of Sun Yat-Sen University, what Shenzhen lack is the ability of allocating international resources, and this is the advantage of Hong Kong and Macau, especially Hong Kong. He thinks that if we want to have international allocation of the industry resources of Shenzhen, relying on Shenzhen alone is not going to work, and we must rely on the platform of the Greater Bay Area. “Accelerate the gathering of global resources cannot be achieved without the Greater Bay Area”.

Dongguan: unveiling of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Center for Interdisciplinary Science

On November 24th, Songshan Lake material lab Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Center for Interdisciplinary Science unveiling ceremony was held in Dongguan Songshan Lake University Innovation City. This center will base in Dongguan and will become an important link of Dongguan in fully creating a national innovative city with global influences.

Songshan Lake material lab is jointly established by Institute of Physics CAS, Institute of High Energy Physics CAS and Dongguan municipal government, and it is one of the first batch of four provincial labs in Guangdong province. The overall planning is1200 mu and the initial planned investment is over 5 billion RMB. On April 25th 2018, Songshan Lake material lab has been established in Dongguan.

The lab is positioned to be the south base of a new material research and development with international influence, an important part of future national material science research, and window of interdisciplinary and opening-up of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau center of science research with international brand effect.

Huizhou: Strive to be the strategic hinderland and gateway of the east coast of the Greater Bay Area

Currently, Huizhou urban master planning (2018-2035), spatial development strategy planning and axis research experts review meeting has been held. As ‘the strong county of the east of the Dayuling mountain’, Huizhou has expressed its ambitious: to create the strategic hinderland and gateway of the east coast of the Greater Bay Area and strive for the first-class city in China.

Responsible person from the Bureau of Housing, Urban and Rural Planning and Construction of Huizhou Municipality introduced in the meeting that the new round of urban master planning will look at how Huizhou should grasp the opportunities of ‘Belt and Road’, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou Economic Zone (3+2) and the construction of Sino-South Korea (Huizhou) industrial park and exploit the advantages to the full. Accelerate the establishment of industry cooperation platform, integrated with regional industrial belt and infrastructure, etc. Continue to promote the in-depth connection and cooperation with the Greater Bay Area in the area of transportation, industry, finance, technology and service, etc. Gathering the core city development elements from Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Huizhou and link with Hong Kong and Macau. Intensify the integration into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and improve the city level and core competitiveness of Huizhou.

The responsible person also introduced that the planning achievement, as the basic planning of the urban development, also leads the implementation of specialized planning that includes public service, comprehensive transportation, urban construction, environmental protection and industrial system, etc. Later, the implementation will be focused on industry, transportation and major regional facilities and to improve the urban development strategic planning.
(Source: 21st Century Business Herald)