Providing World-Class Facilities and Supporting Systems for the Economic Integration of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta

Abstract

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) has entered a new phase of development because of globalisation and China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The PRD has made a rapid advancement in manufacturing, the high-tech industry, logistics, finance, and tourism. At the same time, competition among different cities in the PRD, and from other regions in China, has also intensified. To promote regional competitiveness, the PRD has to integrate its advantages in the manufacturing sector with that of Hong Kong's service sector. Hong Kong has to transform from a city that just plays a middleman's role into a regional business centre. To realize this transformation, the provision of world-class "hardware" facilities is not sufficient. More importantly, Hong Kong has to eradicate - within the provision of "one country, two systems" - all barriers that impede it from functioning as a regional service centre by improving cross-border freight and passenger traffic and restructuring the service sector to attract more businessmen from the Mainland to use services in Hong Kong. Together with an effective talent policy and urban development strategy, Hong Kong can become a regional financial and business centre that provides world-class facilities and supports for further advances in the development of the PRD.