On 28 November, Xie Xiaohui, vice chairman of the Nansha District Committee of CPPCC and director of Nansha Bureau of Commerce, delivered a keynote speech titled “Nansha Will Ride the Wave of GBA Development to World’s Forefront" at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cooperation and Development Forum of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

The full speech is as below.

Dear Vice Secretary-General Gao Yuyue, 
Dear dignitaries, guests, ladies, and gentlemen, 
Good morning. As a young person, I'm very happy to be gathered here with all the guests who participated in the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021 in the beautiful Nansha to discuss cooperation in the Greater Bay Area and developmental plans. I believe that you have already seen the beauty of Nansha in the venue and outside the venue over the past few days. Today, I would like to introduce you to Nansha's advantages and contributions in the development of the Greater Bay Area from the perspectives of Nansha's positioning, location, industries, business environment, and talent attraction.

Nansha is located in the geographic center of the Greater Bay Area. It takes basically the same time to travel from Nansha to the municipal governments of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, and the distances are basically the same. Nansha is a state-level new area, a pilot free trade zone, and the comprehensive demonstration zone for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation. It is also the only sub-center of Guangzhou. Since last year, Nansha has successively been approved as a national comprehensive bonded zone, national demonstration zone for promotion and innovation of import trade, and the country's first international special zone for talents. Therefore, Nansha’s strategic role as a hub is becoming increasingly prominent.

Nansha is a comprehensive transportation hub in the Greater Bay Area. Due to its unique geographic location, Nansha shoulders the glorious mission of building a half-hour transportation circle in the Greater Bay Area. Take the high-speed train at Qingsheng Station in Nansha, and one can reach Futian Station in Shenzhen in 20 minutes and West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong in 30 minutes. In addition, Nansha Passenger Port schedules eight passenger ships every day, and it takes an hour to reach Tsim Sha Tsui and Central in Hong Kong. Moreover, we have built the largest international cruise home port in Asia. I believe that you will have the opportunity to use it once the pandemic is over. Also, we are planning to build a helicopter airport that will allow us to reach Hong Kong and Macao quickly. Therefore, the connectivity through major transportation infrastructure between south and north and between east and west has promoted the joint development with surrounding regions, transforming Nansha from the original geographic center into a transportation and functional center.

Nansha is a hub for future industries. Nansha has been actively building an innovative modern industry system in recent years. Nansha is promoting the driving role of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries; highlighting the leading role of innovation economy, digital economy, marine economy, and headquarters economy; and vigorously developing five main engines, namely, technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, finance, and shipping and logistics, which is the foundation for the development of Nansha. Moreover, we have determined seven major areas with different industry emphasis in the whole district. Within each industry, we are constantly seeking new opportunities for cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao.

In terms of scientific and technological innovation, we are building a comprehensive national science center in the Greater Bay Area. Nansha Science City is also hosting projects such as the cold-spring ecosystem research equipment for deep-sea exploration, deep-sea new energy, deep-sea science and technology innovation center, as well as the well-known Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou).
In terms of advanced manufacturing, the output of our automobile manufacturing industry has exceeded 100 billion yuan for three consecutive years. GAC Toyota has the largest factory in the world. Also, NEV brands such as Hycan Automobile, which we support, are also making their way. In the next five years, we are also focusing on building an industry cluster of intelligent, connected, new-energy vehicles.
In terms of strategic emerging industries, we have accommodated the Greater Bay Area Institute of Precision Medicine and Guangdong Medical Valley, among other biomedicine development platforms. We have incubated more than 300 artificial intelligence companies and nearly 300 biotech companies. Among them, Pony.ai has developed into a self-driving company with the highest market value in the industry in China. Zhaoke Ophthalmic Medicine Co., Ltd. is a local company founded by Hong Kong people and was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last year. In addition, we have also attracted Zhongke Yuhang to Nansha, which will become the Chinese version of SpaceX, producing commercial rockets.

In terms of port and shipping logistics, Nansha houses the largest cluster of container, automobile, and general-cargo terminals in southern China, with routes connecting more than 200 port cities around the world. It is the main contributor to making Guangzhou Port the fourth largest in the world in terms of cargo throughput and fifth in terms of container throughput in 2020. Moreover, the Guangdong-Hong Kong cross-border cargo terminal has opened up a logistics channel between Hong Kong, Macao, and Europe. After being transported from Nansha to the airport in Hong Kong, the goods can be directly delivered to the world. In addition to shipping, Nansha is actually gradually becoming a hub for global air cargo processing. Goods handled in Nansha Bonded Zone can be delivered to China and the world with ease through any of the five airports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Macao. For the next five years, Nansha will also focus on developing new modes such as modern trade in goods and off-shore trade as well as new trading forms such as bonded exhibition of cultural and artistic works and bonded delivery of futures. This will expand the room for cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao.

In terms of finance, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange has been approved. Construction of financial service platforms such as the permanent venue for International Finance Forum and the International Venture Capital Center is speeding up. During the past 13th Five-Year Plan period, the number of financial and quasi-financial institutions in Nansha increased nine times to 6,574. Nansha has also been approved to pilot policies in cross-border finance such as free trade accounts and cross-border two-way financing in RMB. A total of more than 1,300 free trade accounts have been opened, and cross-border settlement in RMB has exceeded 400 billion yuan.

In terms of business environment, Nansha is at the top in the Greater Bay Area. Nansha’s global ranking in business environment based on mock evaluations continues to rise, from 51st in 2017 to 24th in 2019. This year, the China Free Trade Zone Institutional Innovation Index Achievement Report released by Sun Yat-sen University shows that Nansha ranks the third in investment facilitation among the 43 free trade zones in China. In the 2020 Guangzhou City Governance List, Nansha also ranked first in business environment. In this regard, Nansha is also constantly learning from Hong Kong's experience and practices to align its business environment with international standards and promote exchange in talents, economy, and trade. Next, I'll share some cases to illustrate.

Firstly, Nansha continues to improve the convenience of government services. Currently, in terms of business registration, commercial arbitration, construction management, and recognition of professional qualifications, Nansha has aligned itself with Hong Kong and Macao. That is to say, Hong Kong residents can enjoy the same services as mainland residents, such as quick business establishment and taxation services. Taking tax as an example, we have launched the non-discriminatory tax service and we were the first in the province to use UnionPay cards for real-name authentication. Therefore, Hong Kong people in Nansha can complete real-name registration with their mainland travel permit, passport, or permanent ID card. In addition, Nansha is actively attracting various service platforms. At present, eight Hong Kong and Macao youth innovation and entrepreneurship bases with different characteristics and focuses have settled in Nansha.

Nansha is also a fertile land for talent exchange between the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao. As the world's first international talent zone, Nansha is actively attracting talent from the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao through policies such as the talent innovation policy, the 30 measures that facilitates Hong Kong and Macao youth entrepreneurship, and the human resources industrial park. For the past five years, the Hundreds of Enterprises and Thousands of Talents Program has helped 1,800 young students from Hong Kong and Macao to learn about Nansha. Youths participating in the program can get internship and logistic support free of charge, and after graduation, many outstanding youths have chosen to work in Nansha.

In addition, we were the first in China to employ talent from Hong Kong and Macao as public servants. In Nansha, a group of young talents from Hong Kong and Macao are working in the government, statutory bodies, and state-owned enterprises, and have personally participated in the development of Nansha.

Therefore, today's Nansha, riding the wave of developing Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area, has started a new journey that focuses on deep-space, deep-earth, and deep-sea exploration. We can foresee that the Greater Bay Area will be one of the bay areas with the most convenient transportation, highly concentrated innovation resources, and the most dynamic economy in the world. With heightened strategic roles, Nansha will ride this new wave of Greater Bay Area development to the forefront of the world. 

I sincerely invite you to visit Nansha after the forum. And I look forward to more closer exchanges. Thank you!