Bay Area offers huge potential for young people, deputies say

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area offers a fantastic platform for young people from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions to work and start up businesses on the Chinese mainland, deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) said on Tuesday.

The Bay Area is vast, home to a rich seam of expertise and talent, has international vision and rich resources, said Wong Ting-chung, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC.

Its transportation network is also well developed, he said.

He made the remarks during the interview at “NPC deputies passage” on Tuesday.

Wong, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of knitwear manufacturer Nameson Group Ltd, said he has been working in the Bay Area for years as the production base of his company is located in Huizhou, Guangdong province.

“I hope young people from Hong Kong and Macao could come to the Bay Area to pursue their study and then work there. The Bay Area, I believe, creates a great opportunity for young people from Hong Kong, Macao and all across the world to start up business,” he said.

He suggested more convenient policies be launched to facilitate cross-boundary flow, for example, to integrate an identity information system for Hong Kong citizens into that used on the mainland, to tackle the problem of differences in taxation.

He also called on more internationally well-known universities to set up schools in the area in order to cultivate more expertise.

Chui Sai-peng, a NPC deputy from Macao, said there is plenty of development space in the Bay Area for the younger generation.

Macao and the mainland can work together in promoting young people to innovate and nurture entrepreneurship in the cluster, he said.

It can also play an active role in tourism development in the Bay Area as the Macao Special Administrative Region has developed tourism facilities and has advanced tourism education resources, Chui said.

In addition, as a bond linking the mainland with Portuguese-speaking countries, Macao can contribute to promoting business cooperation and serve the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.