John Lee calls for Hong Kong and Dongguan cooperation on innovation, citing close ties between Greater Bay Area cities

Hong Kong and Dongguan leaders on Thursday pledged closer links on technology and innovation development as they eye greater collaboration to capitalise on the relative strengths of the two cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong needs to play the dual role of “superconnector” and “super value-adder”, with a view to connecting the bay area to the international market, proactively integrating into national development while consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong’s international competitiveness, Lee said.

Officials and business leaders from Hong Kong and Dongguan echoed Lee’s rallying cry.

“The collaboration between Hong Kong and Dongguan will play complementary effects, as Hong Kong is the international hub for finance, trade and aviation, while Dongguan is a world-renowned manufacturing city with rich experience to transform technology research into real achievements,” said Lv Chengxi, mayor of Dongguan Municipal Government.

“One out of 10 Hongkongers came from Dongguan,” he noted, citing a long history of close ties and cooperation between the two cities, from investment to technology to talent.

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Hong Kong’s industrial and commercial sectors should leverage the city’s distinctive advantage of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world, Lee said.

Dongguan, which is home to 10.47 million people and some 200,000 manufacturers, has seen rapid growth over the last few years thanks to its burgeoning hi-tech industries. Samsung, Philips, DuPont, Nestle and Huawei Technologies are among the big names with facilities in the city.

Themed “Innovation Meets Smart Manufacturing: Uniting Hong Kong and Dongguan on a Journey to GBA’s Infinite Possibilities”, the forum drew more than 300 political and business leaders and representatives of enterprises in Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau to jointly discuss development opportunities in the 11-city cluster.

The forum was organised by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI), the Pearl River Delta Council under the FHKI, the Hong Kong Productivity Council and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute.

About 1,000 business leaders in different sectors from the two cities attended a gala dinner, or “Thousand-people Banquet”, an annual event that dates back to 2002 and resumed this year after postponement during the Covid-19 period.

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