The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) comprises the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and the nine municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province. The total area is around 56 000 km2. Based on the latest figures provided by the Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (SARG) and the Macao SARG, the total population in the Greater Bay Area is over 86 million and the GDP is USD 1,668.8 billion in 2020.
The development of the Greater Bay Area is accorded the status of key strategic planning in the country's development blueprint, having great significance in the country's implementation of innovation-driven development and commitment to reform and opening-up. The objectives are to further deepen cooperation amongst Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, fully leverage the composite advantages of the three places, facilitate in-depth integration within the region, and promote coordinated regional economic development, with a view to developing an international first-class bay area ideal for living, working and travelling.
The present world is fast becoming multipolar, economically globalised, information-oriented and culturally diverse. The global governance system and the international order have been changing at a faster pace. As countries worldwide have become more interconnected and interdependent, the trend of peaceful development is irreversible. A new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation is set to begin. The Belt and Road Initiative is being pursued in earnest. These developments will help enhance the international competitiveness of the 4 Greater Bay Area and expand the scope of the Greater Bay Area’s participation in international cooperation and competition at a higher level. Following the new vision of development, China takes forward supply-side structural reform and other reforms aiming at better quality, higher efficiency, and more robust drivers of economic growth, bringing new impetus to the transformative and innovative development of the Greater Bay Area. Major breakthroughs have been made in the comprehensive deepening of reform. The modernisation of China’s system and capacity for governance has been substantially enhanced. These developments provide new opportunities for the Greater Bay Area to develop an institution and mechanism for, and to solve prominent problems encountered in, cooperation and development.
