CE participates in 2020 PPRD Regional Co-operation Chief Executive Joint Conference (with photos)

     The 2020 Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Co-operation Chief Executive Joint Conference was held in Sanya, Hainan today (September 18). To take charge of disease prevention and control in Hong Kong, the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, and the relevant officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government participated in the Joint Conference through video conferencing in Hong Kong.
 
     At the meeting, Mrs Lam discussed various matters with other government leaders of the PPRD provinces/regions, including jointly promoting the high-quality development of the PPRD regional cooperation in the post-epidemic era; building a modernised transport network; and jointly creating an innovative platform for cross-system collaboration, etc.

     "The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) is a major development strategy in the country's reform and opening up in the new era and will foster the development of the PPRD region. HKSAR's active participation in the development of the Greater Bay Area will be a key direction for reviving the economy after the epidemic," Mrs Lam said.

     Mrs Lam mentioned that the HKSAR Government is actively taking forward the development of the Greater Bay Area. The strategic focuses include consolidating Hong Kong's status as an international aviation hub and promoting Hong Kong's high value-added maritime services. She also mentioned that professional services, in particular financial and legal services, are the fundamental strengths of Hong Kong. She hoped that the professional services sectors of Hong Kong could assist enterprises of the PPRD region to explore overseas markets.

     Mrs Lam pointed out that the epidemic has highlighted the importance of developing and promoting the application of technology. It has also recognised the potential of Hong Kong's technological and innovative products and solutions to enter overseas markets, and boosted the confidence in developing Hong Kong into an International Innovation and Technology Hub in the Greater Bay Area. She said that the HKSAR Government is promoting Hong Kong's experiences in applying technology to combat the epidemic to overseas markets (especially countries along the "Belt and Road"), and would be pleased to share more experiences with the PPRD provinces/regions.

    Mrs Lam also mentioned that Hong Kong has come through a difficult period over the past year. She expressed gratitude to the Central Government and the PPRD provinces/regions for their support to Hong Kong. She specifically thanked Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian for deploying the support team to assist the HKSAR Government in successfully concluding the Universal Community Testing Programme, which has provided COVID-19 testing for around 1.8 million Hong Kong citizens.

     The PPRD is an important regional co-operation platform that covers nine provinces/regions (namely Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan) and the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, accounting for more than one-third of the country's population and gross domestic product.