GBA Briefs

Northbound travel for HK vehicles program starts

The application process for the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles program began on Thursday. Those who have already obtained permission to apply can complete their applications on the program's website through June 10. Once approved, drivers will be able to use their eligible private cars to travel between Hong Kong and Guangdong province via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge starting from July 1.

The governments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong are accepting a limited number of applications, and successful applicants will be decided by "computer ballot" twice a month on average.

Laboratory built to bolster China-Portugal cooperation

A joint laboratory co-built by Macao Polytechnic University and Portugal's University of Coimbra was founded on May 26 to further enhance scientific cooperation between universities in the Macao Special Administrative Region and Portugal.

The laboratory aims to carry out joint research on computer science, artificial intelligence, and communication technology to support development of smart cities as well as building a collaborative innovation ecosystem to foster young talents in both places.

It also intends to further promote the education, science and technology cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and regions.

21 railway projects in GZ to boost GBA connectivity

Guangzhou is constructing 21 metro lines and intercity railways with a total length of 613 kilometers as the city's latest efforts to build a mega railway network in the hinterland of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In an academic forum featuring GBA's railway transportation, held on Saturday, Guangzhou also revealed it has invested nearly 100 million yuan ($14.2 million) to study the feasibility of building a "metro plus intercity railway" mode that connects all 11 GBA cities with nearly 10,000 kilometers of railway.

The long-term goal is to enable passengers from Guangzhou to arrive in Foshan and Dongguan within 30 minutes, to Qingyuan within 45 minutes, and to other cities in the region within an hour.

More intercontinental routes to open in June

Flights from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport are expected to reconnect Shenzhen with 25 cities worldwide by the end of June as airlines resume their international routes.

The latest was a flight operated by Hainan Airlines, which departed for Rome last Sunday, marking the resumption of three of the company's intercontinental routes within a month.

The airline also plans to resume flying to and from Auckland in New Zealand on June 17.

Foshan on the Forbes China Consumption Vitality List

Foshan made it to the 2023 Forbes China Consumption Vitality List for a second consecutive year, ranking 17th on the list.

In the first quarter of this year, Foshan's total retail sales reached 97.5 billion yuan ($13.78 billion), with catering revenue increasing 13.6 percent year-on-year to 7.3 billion yuan. Sales of furniture, as well as building and decoration materials, also surged by 35.4 percent and 58.3 percent, respectively.

Beijing and Shanghai topped the list of 20 selected cities. Forbes compiled the list based on five indicators: internationalization, consumption vitality, business maturity, transportation convenience and policy support.

Lawyers take the GBA Legal Professional Examination

The 2023 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination was held in Zhuhai and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on May 27. More than 300 lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao registered for the examination.

A total of 1,200 Hong Kong and Macao lawyers took the examinations held by the Ministry of Justice in 2021 and 2022, and more than 270 of them, including Hong Kong barristers, have obtained their licenses to practice.

A number of influential lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao have worked for law firms in Guangdong's nine cities of the Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said he hoped that the pilot project would be made permanent, allowing more Hong Kong lawyers to handle civil and commercial affairs in the nine Guangdong cities where mainland laws are applicable.

Overseas Chinese flock to Greater Bay Area Conference

The 2023 Overseas Chinese Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Conference opened in Jiangmen on May 17 to observe the development of the 11-city cluster and tap the opportunities for business, investment, employment, and education.

Held by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and the People's Government of Guangdong Province, the event drew over 700 representatives of overseas Chinese from 90 countries and regions, including more than 100 overseas Chinese youth.

Govt signs agreements to develop hydrogen sector

The Zhongshan government on May 24 signed a strategic cooperation agreement with new energy equipment providers Mingyang Smart Energy Group and Neuman & Esser Group in a bid to develop the hydrogen industry.

Guo Wenhai, Party secretary of Zhongshan, said the cooperation marks a crucial step for Zhongshan enterprises to go global.

Born in Zhongshan, the multinational corporation Mingyang Smart Energy Group was dual-listed in Shanghai and London. Neuman & Esser Group, a manufacturer of hydrogen equipment, was founded in Germany in 1830.

Economy remains vigorous in the first four months

Huizhou Bureau of Statistics released data on May 26 to brief on Huizhou's economic operation for the first four months of the year.

Data show that industrial investment maintained fast growth from January through April, with a rate of 28.1 percent on a yearly basis. Huizhou is making great efforts to promote the mode "2+1" modern industries, namely two trillion-level advanced manufacturing clusters of petrochemical energy new materials and electronic information as well as one new pillar industry of life and health, of which the life and health manufacturing industry saw a surge of 20.1 percent.

Forum to strengthen ties between countries

Government officials, diplomats, business leaders and scholars from China and the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) attended a forum held in Dongguan on May 24 with the hope of strengthening cooperation in the private sector.

Addressing the event, Xu Lejiang, executive vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said China's pursuit of high-quality development and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will surely bring more opportunities to Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Digital transformation of 1,000 enterprises by 2025

Zhaoqing is set to help over 1,000 local enterprises adopt advanced digital technologies and achieve full 5G network coverage at the village level by 2025, according to the city's latest plan to promote digitalization of the manufacturing industry.

To achieve these goals, Zhaoqing will accelerate the construction of digital infrastructure, such as 5G and optical fiber networks. The city aims to raise industrial production efficiency by at least 15 percent and reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP in the industrial sector by at least 10 percent by 2025.