Page 139 - 大舜基金（十周年紀念特刊）

Greater Bay Area In Focus insurance companies in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao
to jointly develop innovative cross-border medical insurance
products, and provide services for cross-border policy holders
such as underwriting and claims. It also proposes helping insurers
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (“GBA”) to set up service centers in the cities of the GBA to deliver after-
initiative is a pioneering plan fostering closer cooperation among sales services to policy holder who lives or works in the region.
11 cities of the Pearl River Delta to build a world class city cluster In this regard, insurance companies of Hong Kong can seize this
in South China comparable to similar economic clusters around opportunity to largely extend their product and service offerings to
the world. Its objective, through combining the strengths and over 72 million population in the GBA.
expertise of these cities, is to develop the area to be an economic
powerhouse focusing on financial and economic development, Expediting infrastructural connectivity, another key focus of
technological innovation and infrastructural connectivity.
the GBA initiative, calls for efforts to accelerate infrastructural
development to provide not only solid support for socio-economic
1
The Outline Development Plan for the GBA issued by the development in the GBA, but also greater cross-border mobility
Central People’s Government put emphasis on several areas to improve employment and livelihood potential. Hong Kong as a
of development. One of the key foci is the transformation of the “core city” of the GBA, shortening travel time between cities in the
GBA into an innovation and technology hub and to establish the region, streamlining of boundary crossing rules and practices to
Guangdong-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Innovative Technology strengthen intraregional flows would certainly open new horizons
Corridor (the Dongguan section).
for many Hong Kong people in relation to this “quality living
circle”. The higher the mobility, the more international scholars
2
According to the Global Innovation Index 2020 , Hong Kong would be attracted to work and undertake research in Hong Kong
th
ranked the 11 out of the 131 surveyed economies, China at the and across the GBA, stimulating the economic development in the
th
st
14 and was the 1 among upper middle-income countries. China area and sharpening Hong Kong’s competitive edge in the long
also has 2 of the top 5 ranked science & technology clusters – run.
nd
with Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou in the 2 and Beijing the
th
4 respectively - beating out the United States with Silicon Valley During China’s reform and opening up in the early 1980s, New
th
ranked the 5 . Meanwhile, universities in Hong Kong continue to World Group was fortunate to be the first batch of Hong Kong
3
maintain high positions in both the QS World University Rankings businessmen to have participated in the infrastructure projects in
4
and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings . China. After forty years of efforts and devotion, starting from its
In addition, a rising trend in in-house R&D expenditure and the first real estate construction in Guangzhou, New World Group has
number of R&D personnel has been noted and more R&D have continued to expand its presence in Greater China, particularly
5
been successfully converted into commercialised products .
in the GBA. NWS Holdings Limited (“NWS”), as the diversified
industries flagship of New World Group, has also expanded its
As the GBA continues to develop, many Hong Kong’s leading investments in housing projects to infrastructure and technology
technology companies and academic institutions have been projects. NWS operates 15 toll roads in mainland China, seven
working closely with China’s counterparts on cutting edge of which are located in the GBA, including the Guangzhou City
innovation projects. These represent opportunities for businesses, Northern Ring Road, contributing to the construction of a one-
entrepreneurs and other key stakeholders to develop and test hour living circle in the region. Moreover, NWS’s newly acquired
their concepts, nurture talents, forge strategic partnerships and business, FTLife Insurance Company Limited fully supports
drive creativity and growth in the region.
the GBA’s initiative of promoting cross-boundary transactions
of insurance, has been actively considering setting up a
The Central People’s Government strongly supports the co- service center in the GBA to provide clients with more efficient
operation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in building an and comprehensive services. In addition, NWS’s large-scale
international innovation and technology hub in the GBA. The intermodal rail container terminal network across mainland China
Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park at the Lok makes it well positioned to capture future growth opportunities
Ma Chau Loop could work closely with the Shenzhen Innovation associated with the forthcoming new Guangzhou terminal in terms
and Technology Zone to give full play to the advantages of “one of the soaring demand in logistics services in the area.
zone and two parks” that further helps inject new impetus into the
region and be the cradle of “new economy” innovative businesses. It is obvious that the size, economic potential and interconnectivity
In short, the GBA initiative would provide a platform to unleash of the GBA will create ample and significant opportunities for
innovations with collaboration. Hong Kong should capitalise on its a wide range of industries including technology, infrastructure,
world class education institutions and expertise in global financial construction, real estate, financial services, insurance, capital
services, pooling the resources from the GBA and the world to markets and many others. Drawing on the different expertise of
enhance its competitiveness in the innovation and technology Hong Kong and ten other cities, the GBA initiative is destined for
arena.
making a new type of smart city cluster to promote sustainable
development. Corporations can also observe China’s future
On the other hand, the GBA is where cross-border fund flows are development direction through the pilot projects implemented in
growing rapidly. Against this backdrop, deeper financial integration the GBA where is taken as a major experimental zone.
of Hong Kong and Macao with Guangdong has been taken as a
priority in the GBA initiative. In particular, with reference to the Let’s put our heads together and grab the opportunities brought
opinions expressed in the Article No. 19 of the GBA Circular 2020- by the strategic initiative of building our GBA!
95 issued by the People’s Bank of China, China Banking and
Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory
Commission and State Administration of Foreign Exchange
which have been endorsed by The State Council of the People’s
6
Republic of China , it encourages the cooperation between
1 https://www.bayarea.gov.hk/filemanager/en/share/pdf/Outline_Development_Plan.pdf
2 https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gii_2020.pdf
3 https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2021
4 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2021/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/
cols/stats
5 https://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/MzEzOTIwMDIy/hktdc-research/Innovation-and-Technology-Industry-in-Hong-Kong
6 http://www.cnbayarea.org.cn/policy/policy release/policies/content/post_258474.html

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