Greater Bay Area has ‘immense opportunities’ for Hong Kong, Nansha: CY Leung

Hong Kong deputy financial secretary Michael Wong and Nansha district party chief Liu Wei are among conference’s VIP speakers

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Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying at the Post’s annual China Conference. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 11:15am, 15 Jan 2025Updated: 11:28pm, 15 Jan 2025

Hong Kong and Nansha district can find “immense opportunities” at the intersection of global innovation and regional integration of the Greater Bay Area, a former chief executive has said, highlighting the city’s role as a superconnector in the region.

During the Post’s annual China Conference on Wednesday, Leung Chun-ying said the concessionary tax rates for enterprises offered in Nansha, a municipal district in Guangdong province’s capital of Guangzhou, promoted collaborations in the region.

The China Conference: Greater Bay Area 2025 was held in the district, making the South China Morning Post the first Hong Kong media company to organise a bay area forum in one of the mainland Chinese cities under the central authorities’ development blueprint.

Hong Kong’s deputy financial secretary, Michael Wong Wai-lun, and Nansha district party chief Liu Wei were among the VIP speakers at the one-day conference, which attracted about 300 attendees, with around two-thirds of them from outside the mainland.

Among the attendees were consuls general and deputy consuls from eight countries – Australia, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.

Leung, a vice-chairman of the country’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said the bay area development blueprint offered a “much bigger and more diverse playing field” for Hong Kong, increasing the financial hub’s geographical and sectoral diversification.