Hong Kong, Guangdong firms sign trade deals worth 100 billion yuan

Chief Executive John Lee is on trip to province with officials and tycoons, weeks after Beijing urged authorities and firms to work together

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City leader John Lee examines wine products at Lingnan Tiandi, a revamped cultural and heritage site. Photo: Eugene Lee

Published: 8:29pm, 25 Nov 2024Updated: 10:59pm, 25 Nov 2024

Hong Kong and Guangdong province businesses have signed economic and trade deals worth more than 100 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion) at a meeting promoting cooperation between the two places.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Monday the meeting in Guangzhou had brought together government and business representatives to jointly take action to promote high-quality development in the Greater Bay Area.

“At the exchange meeting, we witnessed enterprises from Guangdong and Hong Kong signing as many as 126 economic and trade cooperation projects with a total value of more than 100 billion yuan, with fruitful results,” he said.

Lee said he was encouraged “even more” by the fact 101 of the cooperation projects were investments by Hong Kong business into the province, with the value of the deals to exceed 91 billion yuan. Those agreements covered “areas such as financial cooperation, modern logistics, smart manufacturing, biomedicine and artificial intelligence”.

“This showcases the patriotic sentiments and pragmatic actions of Hong Kong entrepreneurs in actively serving the development of Guangdong and the mainland,” he said.

At the event, Lee met Huang Kunming, the Communist Party chief of Guangdong province, Wang Weizhong, province governor, Zheng Yanxiong, the director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, and Cui Jianchun, Beijing’s top diplomat in Hong Kong.