Li Jiachao: Using the Northern Metropolitan Area as an Engine, Hong Kong Joins Hands with Bay Area Cities to Build a World-Class Urban Agglomeration

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Li Jiachao, said in his speech at the 2026 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Global Investment Promotion Conference that the Greater Bay Area, as a strategic fulcrum of the country's new development pattern, a demonstration site for high-quality development, and a leader in Chinese-style modernization, contributes about one-ninth of the country's total economy with less than 0.6% of the country's area, and has great potential for development. This year marks the beginning of the country's “15th Five-Year Plan”. Hong Kong released the “Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan” in September to actively connect with the national strategy, rely on “one country, two systems” to superimpose national and international opportunities, and work with Bay Area cities to build a world-class Bay Area and world-class urban agglomeration.

He said that the new “Policy Address” continues to deepen the collaborative development of the Greater Bay Area, making efforts in the three areas of “hard connectivity” of infrastructure, “soft connectivity” of rules and mechanisms, and “heart connectivity” of people's hearts to smooth the flow of people, logistics, capital, and data. Hong Kong is speeding up the construction of major cooperation platforms such as Qianhai, Nansha, and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Hetao to promote innovation and industrial chain collaboration. As the core engine for Hong Kong's participation in the construction of the Bay Area, the Northern Metropolitan Area covers an area of about one-third of Hong Kong, focusing on university towns, innovation, technology and industrial layout to create a new area that is livable, easy to work and travel, and empowering the high-quality development of the Bay Area.

Li Jiachao pointed out that with its status as an international financial, shipping, and trade center, Hong Kong continues to act as a “super contact” and “super value-added person” in line with the international legal system, free flow of capital, low tax system and professional service system, and has become a two-way springboard for mainland enterprises to go overseas and lay out in the Bay Area. The Special Administrative Region has so far helped over 360 mainland enterprises to set up or expand their business in Hong Kong. Hong Kong will support investment promotion packages to actively attract key enterprises to settle in, expand the functions of the two-way platform, and promote the “introduction” of foreign investment and the “going global” of mainland enterprises.