The Plan for Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Opening-Up of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone in Qianhai, recently issued by the top authorities, is not only aimed at better promoting the "one country, two systems" principle but also accelerating the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area and city cluster.

The mission to better develop the Qianhai zone will deepen Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation and play a bigger role in helping Hong Kong promote the Belt and Road Initiative and participate in high-level global cooperation. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region can take advantage of the opportunities created by Qianhai's development and opening-up to further integrate into the country's overall development, in order to boost its own economy and maintain its stability and prosperity in the long run.

Promoting development of Greater Bay Area

As a facilitator of the Greater Bay Area's development, Qianhai is not only an important zone for Hong Kong to invest in and give full play to its advantages, but also a key platform for deepening Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation.

According to the reform plan, the Qianhai zone will be expanded from 14.92 square kilometers to 120.56 square km, creating a bigger cooperation space for Shenzhen and Hong Kong. It will encourage the two cities to work together to open a channel with greater potential for coordinated development.

Over the nearly 11 years since its establishment, the Qianhai zone has attracted more than 11,300 registered Hong Kong enterprises, all of which are seeking new, greater development opportunities in Qianhai.

Moreover, as an important hub promoting Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation and an international service platform for innovation and entrepreneurship in Shenzhen, the Qianhai zone has been attracting an increasing number of young entrepreneurs from the region and beyond, and has become a vital platform for Hong Kong youths to partake in the development of the Greater Bay Area.

Ideal 'incubator' for HK, Shenzhen high-tech firms

Focused on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among youths from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, as well as other parts of the region and the world, and bringing together advanced technologies, different types of industries, venture capital and other resources from Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Qianhai is the ideal "incubator" for professional high-tech enterprises. In particular, it provides "innovation services" for young entrepreneurs from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs and Taiwan.

Of the 468 entrepreneurial teams "incubating" on a youth project platform in Qianhai, 236 are from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other overseas destinations, indicating that more and more overseas entrepreneurs are choosing Qianhai to pursue their dreams.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging in many parts of the world, the international situation remains unstable and uncertain, and the world economic outlook is still complex and grim. Amid these uncertainties, China has adopted the "dual circulation" development paradigm, and is expediting efforts to further strengthen the domestic market and increase domestic demand.

It is also taking measures to increase infrastructure investment, develop third-generation semiconductors through scientific and technological innovation, and accelerate the development of 5G, artificial intelligence, the industrial internet and other "new infrastructure" industries.

Exploring new ways to boost Shenzhen-HK cooperation

Against this backdrop, by drawing on Hong Kong's advantages and experience in developing the logistics sector, information and communications technology, and the modern service industry including financial and professional services, and other high-end services, the Qianhai zone will explore new ways and new directions to expand Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, in order to boost the development, industrial transformation and upgrading of the modern service industry on the Chinese mainland, helping increase domestic demand, and creating a more expansive and promising development space for Hong Kong residents, especially its youths.

Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation has made great contributions to Shenzhen's rapid development, thereby promoting the country's reform and opening-up. The Qianhai cooperation Zone will open up new channels for Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation. And with the country following the "dual circulation" development paradigm, Qianhai will play the role of a significant experimental zone for promoting exchanges and cooperation between the international and mainland markets, pushing mainland standards to a par with international ones, and helping the Greater Bay Area develop into a high-level open economy.

Qianhai will also be a catalyst for Hong Kong's further integration into the country's overall development, and its consolidation as a global financial and logistics hub. For example, Hong Kong enjoys unique advantages in fields such as shipping, law and business, from which other cities in the Greater Bay Area and other parts of the country can learn how to boost their own development.

Professional services have become one of the important industries promoting Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation in Qianhai. In 2020, the amount of investments professional service enterprises in Qianhai attracted from Hong Kong and Macao accounted for 30.52 percent of all the industries in the zone. So Hong Kong can play a big role in jointly building the Qianhai zone with Shenzhen and, in the process, help further open up the mainland market and share the dividends of the latter's steady development.

Financial connectivity between mainland, HK

The development of the financial sector in Qianhai will not only improve financial connectivity between the mainland and Hong Kong, but also help further develop Hong Kong's financial sector and consolidate its status as an international financial center. And by helping open up the mainland's financial sector, Qianhai will take the lead in promoting cross-border renminbi loan and financial infrastructure, and other cross-border businesses.

The mainland's measures to open up its financial sector to Hong Kong and Macao under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement framework have also been implemented in Qianhai. And by further opening up its financial market and promoting innovation in the financial sector, Qianhai will create more favorable conditions for the extension of Hong Kong's financial sector to the mainland and deepening cooperation between the two sides in financial services.

Qianhai is a strategic platform for China's reform and opening-up that President Xi Jinping has been promoting. If Hong Kong can capitalize on the opportunities created by Qianhai and use it as a platform to integrate into the country's overall development, it can greatly boost its future economic development.

The author is chairman of Guangzhou-based Silk Road iValley Research Institute.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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