The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip, visited Guangzhou today (January 9), touring the headquarters of the Tianhe Hong Kong and Macau Youth Association, an innovative and entrepreneurial base in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to learn more about the situation of Hong Kong young people starting business on the Mainland. He also attended a major promotional event organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
 
     Upon arrival, Mr Nip visited the headquarters of the Tianhe Hong Kong and Macau Youth Association to keep himself abreast of its latest developments. The headquarters was established in October last year to provide support services in entrepreneurship, internship, exchanges and living to young people from Hong Kong and Macao. He also exchanged views with young Hong Kong entrepreneurs stationed at the base to learn about their needs in starting business, the development of their business and their future plans.
 
     Mr Nip said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has all along been supportive of Hong Kong young people participating in the development of the Greater Bay Area, noting that the 2019 Policy Address had announced that an Alliance of Hong Kong Youth Innovative and Entrepreneurial Bases in the Greater Bay Area would be set up. Organisations from Guangdong and Hong Kong with a proven track record, such as innovative and entrepreneurial bases, universities, non-government organisations, scientific research institutes, professional bodies and venture funds, would be invited to join the alliance and jointly set up a one-stop information, publicity and exchange platform to better support Hong Kong young entrepreneurs in the Greater Bay Area.
 
     In the evening, Mr Nip attended "Chic HK", a major promotional event in Guangzhou organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, during which he exchanged views with exhibitors from Hong Kong to get a better understanding of their development on the Mainland. The exhibition aims to promote Hong Kong brands with a view to helping Hong Kong enterprises enter the Mainland consumer market.
 
     Addressing the dinner reception, Mr Nip said, "This is the first pilot exhibition hosted solely by an organisation outside Guangzhou. I hope that under the framework on the development of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong and Guangzhou can continue to leverage the advantages of both places and to jointly bring in world-renowned exhibitors and related service providers with a view to further propelling the growth of the exhibition industry in the Greater Bay Area."
 
     He said that Hong Kong has seen many breakthroughs in the development of the Greater Bay Area in the past year. Since the Central Government's announcement of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in February last year, the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area had convened two meetings in 2019. A total of 24 measures were announced which helped speed up the movement of major production factors, such as people and goods, within the Greater Bay Area, and provided further facilitation for Hong Kong people developing their careers, working, studying or living in the Mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area. 
 
     "With the staunch support and leadership of the Central Government, the HKSAR Government will continue to collaborate closely with the People's Government of Guangdong Province and the Macao Special Administrative Region Government in various aspects to steadfastly take forward the development of the Greater Bay Area and seek more policy breakthroughs," he said.
 
     Mr Nip will return to Hong Kong this evening.

Ends/Thursday, January 9, 2020
Issued at HKT 20:07

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