Entrepreneurial Subjects

In June 2022, the State Council of China issued the “Master Plan of Guangzhou Nansha on Deepening Comprehensive Cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao with Global Perspective”. 

Nansha district enjoys great geographic advantages, enormous development potential and a strong industrial foundation. As Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao have strong willingness for cooperation, Nansha bears unique advantages in promoting their comprehensive cooperation.  In February 2019, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) further specified Nansha’s role in promoting cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, joining hands with Hong Kong and Macao to build a portal for high-level opening-up, jointly building a demonstration zone for innovative development, establishing a major platform for financial services, and creating a high-quality living environment. 

The Nansha plan, consisting of seven sections and 26 articles and has phased objectives for 2025 and 2035, respectively. The plan proposes main targets in the fields of innovation and technology (I&T) systems and institutional arrangements, public service capacity and business environment, etc.

Five Major Tasks

1. Industrial cooperation bases for I&T will be built in Nansha
   Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are rich in scientific and technological innovation resources. The Nansha plan has put forward many powerful measures to strengthen cooperation in scientific and technological innovation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. Among the measures, corporate income tax will be levied at a reduced rate of 15 percent for enterprises in industries that are being encouraged in the pioneering zones; Hong Kong and Macao residents working in Nansha will be exempted from the portion of their personal income tax that exceeds the tax burden of Hong Kong and Macao. All these measures are expected to greatly boost the gathering of high-tech enterprises and talent in Nansha.
    
2. Cooperation platforms for startups and youth will be established in Nansha
   The plan requires coordinated measures in promoting youth innovation and entrepreneurship, and calls for efforts to improve support for internships and employment and strengthen people-to-people exchanges among the youth. The Nansha plan clearly includes eligible Hong Kong and Macao residents into the scope of local entrepreneurship subsidies, strengthens the guarantee of supporting services for employment, and provides convenient conditions for accommodation, commuting, and children’s enrollment in kindergartens and schools so as to promote the establishment of a hot spot for Hong Kong and Macao youths to innovate and start businesses here.
    
3. Joint efforts will be made to build Nansha into a portal for high-level opening-up
   The plan stipulates that a comprehensive service base for Chinese enterprises going global will be built in Nansha. Measures will also be taken to enhance Nansha’s role as an international shipping and logistics hub, strengthen global economic cooperation and build Nansha into a new platform for international communication. Nansha is one of the important intersections of the domestic and international circulations and has the unique advantage of connecting the two markets and utilising the resources of the two. The Nansha plan proposes that Nansha will play an important role in strengthening international economic cooperation and other aspects. According to it, Nansha will study how to further reduce the access threshold for Hong Kong’s professional service industry to provide services in the Mainland, and rely on Guangzhou, especially Nansha’s industrial and market foundation, to join hands with Hong Kong and Macao to continuously deepen international economic and trade cooperation and promote the construction of a new high ground for opening up to the outside world. 
    
4. A mechanism for aligning rules and regulations will be established in Nansha
   The plan notes that a world-class business environment will be built in Nansha, with efforts promoting connectivity in its financial markets in an orderly manner and improving the coordination between public services and social management. Convergence of rules and mechanisms is one of the key points and difficulties in developing the GBA. When the rules are connected and converged, the flow of factors will be smooth. The Nansha plan requires Nansha to actively explore and promote the “soft connection” of the rules and mechanisms in the aspects such as improving the level of connection with Hong Kong’s and Macao’s financial markets, public services, and social management. The plan clearly supports Nansha’s pilot projects in cross-border motor vehicle insurance, cross-border commercial medical insurance, etc., and promotes the convergence of the rules of the GBA in depth.
    
5. Nansha will also be built into a model for high-quality urban development
   The plan stresses increasing cooperation in urban planning and development, steadily promoting smart cities, advancing educational cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, facilitating medical treatment and elderly care for Hong Kong and Macao residents and intensifying joint efforts in ecological protection and treatment. Accelerating the development and construction of Nansha is an important measure for old city Guangzhou to gain new vitality and make new and outstanding achievements in comprehensive urban functions, comprehensive urban cultural strength, modern service industry, and modern international business environment. The Nansha plan explicitly states that Nansha should deepen cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao in the fields of urban planning and construction, smart city management, and environmental protection so as to promote the modernisation of the urban governance system and governance capacity and create a high-quality living circle that is suitable for living, working and travelling.

The plan will help improve Nansha’s urban services in the areas of shipping, trade, finance and international communication, helping Nansha join hands with Hong Kong and Macao to build a high-level opening-up portal, and allowing it to play a bigger part in promoting and building the new development paradigm. The plan also helps create a major strategic platform for the comprehensive cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, enriches the practice of “one country, two systems”, and supports Hong Kong and Macao’s engagement in the country’s overall development.

(Remarks:  The article is sourced from InvestHK)

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