Maritime Silk Road Expo held in Guangzhou

The Guangdong 21st century Maritime Silk Road International Expo was recently held in Guangzhou. The experts and scholars in attendance warmly discussed how to better construct the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by fostering a first-rate business environment.

“The next step of China’s open-up will shift from goods and economic factors to rules and regulations,” said Zhang Yansheng, lead researcher of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE).

Guan Jiaming, chief research officer of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), and Wang Jun, director of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, expressed the same opinion from specific and different perspectives.

“The Greater Bay area is the country’s most globalized region, owing to its marketization not only of the economy but also of governing mechanisms. It is supposed to bring the advantages of ‘one country, two systems’ to the full,” said Guan.

“The collaboration between governments is a big impetus as well as a precondition for the development of the Greater Bay Area,” said Wang.

As for the government’s cooperation, construction of infrastructure like transport facilities, scientific equipment and universities makes a chain of long-standing effects.

Beside these hard environment conditions, soft environment conditions such as rules and regulations also contribute greatly to progressive factors.

“People are more likely to focus on comparative advantages and low cost when discussing the business environment; but now a hotter topic is how to improve initiative through institutional innovation,” said Mao Yanhua, vice dean of the Institute of Free Trade Zones of Sun-Yat-Sen University.