CE meets Guangzhou mayor

Chief Executive John Lee today met Guangzhou Municipal Government Mayor Sun Zhiyang to exchange views on deepening Hong Kong's co-operation with Guangzhou.

Mr Lee said that he is pleased to meet Mr Sun again since they last met at the inaugural meeting of the Organising Committee of the 15th National Games in Guangzhou in April.

Noting that Hong Kong and Guangzhou are core cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as key engines for regional development, he pointed out that both places have been actively taking forward a series of initiatives in recent years.

Such co-operation initiatives include the high-quality development of Nansha, investment by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited in the Guangzhou Futures Exchange and the equine industry development.

The Chief Executive emphasised that according to the Global Innovation Index 2023, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster has ranked second globally for four consecutive years, which shows that the three places embrace great potential for innovation and technology (I&T) development.

The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (Guangzhou) established in Nansha nurtures students to become top I&T talent, fostering the joint building of a major I&T platform of Hong Kong and Guangzhou and making contributions to the construction of China as a strong country in science and technology, he added.

Saying that this year marks the fifth anniversary of the promulgation of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Mr Lee expressed his belief that Hong Kong and Guangzhou will continue to work together to promote bilateral co-operation and the high-quality development of the bay area.