Xi Yanchun:

I'll give the floor to Mr. Lin Shaochun.

Lin Shaochun:

Ladies, gentlemen and friends of the media, hello everyone! I'm glad to meet with you here. Thanks for everyone's attention and support for the efforts made by Guangdong province to advance the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Now, I will give a brief introduction of the latest progress of the initiative.

A mechanism of coordination has been established. A steering group of Guangdong province to promote Greater Bay Area construction was established, with provincial Party secretary Li Xi and the provincial governor, Ma Xingrui, assuming the roles of director and executive deputy director. In addition, six special task forces were assembled to coordinate work in key areas. The province also formulated a series of matching policies implementing the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-HongKong-Macao Greater Bay Area with systematic approaches.

Scientific and technological innovation and cooperation have been deepening in the Greater Bay Area. Phased work on the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone has been progressing smoothly. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has set up a branch campus in Nansha district of Guangzhou city. In Shenzhen a total of 6 higher education institutions from Hong Kong have set up 72 scientific research facilities. A total of 151 programs were jointly built by Guangdong and Hong Kong to offer financial aid to promote innovation. Policies were issued to offer guidelines for the overseas use of Guangdong provincial financial funds for scientific research.

Significant growth has been seen in infrastructure construction and interconnectivity. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opened to traffic last October. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has been put into use and offers a co-location arrangement at West Kowloon Station. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is under construction. And the entry port of Hengqin in Zhuhai started to provide 24-hour customs clearance services.

The local business environment has been shifting to meet growing needs. Guangdong province opened 153 service industry sectors to Hong Kong and Macao compatriots, accounting for 95.6 percent of the 160 categories classified by the World Trade Organization. The procedures for opening a business now take no more than 5 working days.

Interconnectivity in the finance sector is steadily advancing. China UnionPay's Quick Pass application mode has reached Hong Kong and Macao. WeChat Pay Hong Kong started to provide local users with mobile payment services in the Chinese mainland. And for the first time, Guangdong and Macao jointly set up a 20 billion-yuan (first phase) fund for cooperation and development.

Residents of Hong Kong and Macao now enjoy increasing convenience when working and living in Guangdong through 53 measures issued to facilitate the construction of the Greater Bay Area. Fifty higher education institutions in the province have been enabled to enroll students from Hong Kong and Macao. The number of medical facilities with Hong Kong and Macao investment has now reached 48. The number of accepted applications for residence permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents has reached 90,000.

In the future, Guangdong will deepen its understanding of General Secretary Xi Jinping's expositions on the construction of the Greater Bay Area, position the project as the main driving force of reform and opening-up in the province, and fulfill the important duty of the construction of the Greater Bay Area. Guangdong expects to make its due contribution to integrate the development of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall development of the country and to facilitate the quality economic growth of the country.

Thank you all!