Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
This refers to the city clusters that encompass China’s two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and nine cities of neighboring Guangdong Province: Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai. The gross economy of this greater bay area now ranks among the world’s top four bay areas.
The idea of building a city cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an outcome of the constant integration of the cities in the Pearl River Delta region.
The Framework Agreement on Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation, in 2010, contained a key program to build a pleasant livable zone along the Pearl River estuary. Four years later in 2014, the Report on the Work of the Shenzhen Municipal Government set the goal of developing a bay area economy, and included Guangdong’s city clusters located in the bay area and the nearby Hong Kong and Macao into a complete plan.
Thewhite paper Joining Hands to Build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road – Vision and Actions, jointly released in 2015 byChina’s National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Commerce, called for further cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In 2016 China’s 13th Five-year Plan contained a provision “to support Hong Kong and Macao to play an important role in the cooperation in the pan-Pearl River Delta and promote a platform for cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and cross-provincial cooperation.” In 2017, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area appeared in both the Report on the Work of the Government and the report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC, becoming a national strategy.
The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2017 listed the planning of the Greater Bay Area as a task for 2018. This marked the formal start of strategic planning.
The Greater Bay Area is important to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and a new round of high-level opening up. It is conducive to the exchanges and cooperation between China’s interior and Hong Kong and Macao, to the two special regions’ participation in national development strategies, and to their competitiveness and long-lasting prosperity and stability.
粤港澳大湾区
粤港澳大湾区是指由香港、澳门两个特别行政区和广东省的广州、深圳、珠海、佛山、中山、东莞、肇庆、江门、惠州等九市组成的城市群。粤港澳大湾区经济体量已跻身世界前四大湾区。
粤港澳大湾区城市群概念的提出是一个逐步的过程，是包括港澳在内的珠三角城市融合发展不断深化的结果。2010年，《粤港合作框架协议》将建设环珠江口宜居湾区列为重点行动计划。2014年，深圳市政府工作报告明确提出构建“湾区经济”，把粤港澳城市群勾连起的湾区作为一个整体规划。2015年，由国家发展改革委、外交部、商务部联合发布的《推动共建丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路的愿景和行动》提出，要深化与港澳台合作，打造粤港澳大湾区。2016年，“支持港澳在泛珠三角合作中发挥重要作用,推动粤港澳大湾区和跨省区重大合作平台建设”被写入“十三五”规划。2017年，粤港澳大湾区建设先后被写入政府工作报告和十九大报告，被提升到国家发展战略层面。2017年12月，中央经济工作会议将“科学规划粤港澳大湾区”纳入2018年经济工作，这标志着粤港澳大湾区战略规划进入正式实施、全面启动的新阶段。
粤港澳大湾区将在中国“一带一路”倡议推进和新一轮高水平对外开放中发挥重要作用。推进建设粤港澳大湾区，有利于深化内地和港澳交流合作，对港澳参与国家发展战略，提升竞争力，保持长期繁荣稳定具有重要意义。