New jewel in the crown for SARs

Fresh opportunities

Mao urged Hong Kong to play an active part in building international technology and innovation centers in the Greater Bay Area, thereby lifting the city's global competitiveness, and to leverage its advantages in international talent, information, capital and other technology and innovation-related resources.

He said Nansha's extensive space will provide a "strong impetus not only for Hong Kong's economic transformation, but also for Macao's industrial diversification".

The development plan will be implemented in the whole of Nansha district, which spans 803 square kilometers, with Nanshawan, Qingsheng hub and Nansha hub in the area serving as launching pads in the first phase.

Chan Chi-fong, secretary-general of the Macao Development Strategy Research Centre and a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said the focus and key tasks highlighted in the Nansha plan lie in institutional innovation, rule convergence and building an open platform for international collaboration.

Comparing Nansha's plan with that of Hengqin, which was promulgated in September last year, Chan said the former focuses on how to coordinate development with Hong Kong and Macao to further open up to the world, while the latter emphasizes helping Macao to diversify its economy and enable its residents to work and live better.

"The two plans have different goals, tasks and targeting groups. They have their own highlights and are complementary," he said.

Chan said a higher level of openness for Macao's service industries will strengthen the city's trade and financial operations and further promote its role as a platform linking the mainland with Portuguese-speaking countries.

"The total value of trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries reached $200 billion in 2021, having exceeded $100 billion for five consecutive years. A number of Guangdong enterprises have invested in Brazil, Portugal and Mozambique. This shows there's huge potential for economic and trade cooperation between Guangdong and Portuguese-speaking nations," he said.

"Macao can play an active role in helping Guangdong companies expand cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries. Through coordinated development with Nansha, Macao can join in the nation's building of a new high-level opening-up system," Chan added.

Nansha's GDP hit 213.61 billion yuan ($31.61 billion) in 2021, growing 9.6 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics. About 3.7 percent of the district's economic output went to research and development. The district has accumulated 749 institutional innovations to date, with 43 of them in national practice.