John Lee: Hong Kong will proactively align with the 15th Five-Year Plan and accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis

On October 22, John Lee Ka-chiu, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, delivered a video address at the 4th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Business Conference. This year's conference brought together business leaders and enterprise representatives in Macao under the theme "Connecting the Greater Bay Area, Linking the World," which both highlighted the vision for Greater Bay Area development and showcased the enormous opportunities the Greater Bay Area presents to the global business community. John Lee Ka-chiu said that the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a strategic pillar of the country's new development pattern, a demonstration zone for high-quality development, and a leading area for Chinese-style modernization. This year is the opening year of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan, and the Hong Kong SAR Government announced the "Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan" in September to proactively align with the national development strategy. Hong Kong will continue to leverage its unique advantages under "One Country, Two Systems" of being backed by the motherland and connected to the world, complement the strengths of different cities in the Greater Bay Area, and build the Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area and city cluster with global influence. In terms of deepening coordinated development of the Greater Bay Area, John Lee Ka-chiu pointed out that the Hong Kong SAR Government will promote mutual recognition of professional qualifications by advancing regulatory harmonization and mechanism alignment, facilitate the efficient flow of people, goods, capital, and information within the region, and create a better business environment and broader development space for the business communities of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. At the same time, it will actively advance the development of major cooperation platforms such as Qianhai, Nansha, and Hetao, focusing on areas such as innovation and technology, modern services, and high-end professional services, to enhance the region's overall competitiveness and add momentum to the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area. John Lee Ka-chiu emphasized that the Northern Metropolis is an important engine for Hong Kong's deep participation in Greater Bay Area development. Hong Kong is accelerating the development of the Northern Metropolis, turning it into an important platform for driving innovation and technology development, attracting high-end talent, and promoting industrial synergy, so as to provide stronger support for cultivating new quality productive forces and expanding regional cooperation. In terms of regional international cooperation, John Lee Ka-chiu mentioned that this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings are being held in the country, with multiple cities in the Greater Bay Area participating as hosts. Over the past two days, Hong Kong successfully held the 2026 APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting, where finance officials from member economies held in-depth exchanges on regional financial and economic cooperation issues. Together with the Leaders' Meeting Week to be held in Shenzhen and meetings in other cities in the region, this fully reflects the country's great emphasis on the Greater Bay Area and highlights the Greater Bay Area's important role in the country's opening-up. John Lee Ka-chiu said that Hong Kong, as one of the core cities of the Greater Bay Area, will continue to serve as a "super connector" and "super value-adder," leverage its international business environment and world-class professional services, and work hand in hand with cities in the Greater Bay Area to promote higher-level alignment with regional and international markets, bringing greater opportunities to enterprises, investors, and talent. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao will continue to work together in the same direction and take the Greater Bay Area's international competitiveness and influence to a higher level.