BGEZ and GHM Greater Bay Area to Jointly Build a Model for Bay Area Cooperation and Development

Lin Qianqian　Mo Tingting

In early 2019， the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council released the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area （hereinafter referred to as the “Outline”）， in which the concept of “marine economy” was singled out as a section for planning. With the elements of ocean， opening up and internationalization， the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area （GHM Greater Bay Area） is regarded as one of the main factors for China to develop marine economy for the third time since the reform and opening up.

In the southwest of GHM Greater Bay Area， Beibu Gulf Economic Zone （BGEZ）， as the main battlefield of Guangxis “seaward economy”， is constantly releasing its potential. In addition， the transformation and upgrading of traditional marine industry was accelerated， and the marine economy shifted from farming， livestock and fishing to a strategic one.

In the past two years， deepening the integration with the GHM Greater Bay Area was served as one of the focuses of BGEZ， which in lines with the plan mentioned in the Outline of “building the GHM Greater Bay Area as the leader， and realizing its linkage development with the city cluster on the west coast of the straits and BGEZ”. In 2019， Office of Planning， Development and Management of Beibu Gulf Economic Zone of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region， China （hereinafter referred to as the “Office of BGEZ”） will focus on accelerating the construction of BGEZ city cluster and matchmaking GHM Greater Bay Area， innovating the mechanism of “two bay areas” cooperation and development， improving the level of infrastructure， industrial development， opening up and cooperation， science and technology innovation cooperation， and ecological environment cooperation， thus to achieve win-win results.

GHM Greater Bay Area orienting towards seaward economy

As the estuary of the Pearl River， GHM Greater Bay Area is the strategic frontier of seaward economy， with Hong Kong， Macao， Shenzhen and Guangzhou， the earliest opening up and internationalized regions or cities in China， as the core. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan Period， China has been paying more and more attention to the development of marine economy. The GHM Greater Bay Area mentioned in the Outline should be target at seaward economy. On the whole， by “sticking to land-sea overall planning and expanding blue economic space”， the Outline reflects a series of characteristics different from other similar national regional development plans. From reality， the Outline proposed that GHM Greater Bay Area should construct a modern marine industry system， optimize and enhance traditional advantageous industry such as marine fishery， cultivate and strengthen emerging industry such as marine biological medicine， accelerate the development of port logistics and other service industry， and reinforce the construction of marine science and technology innovation platform.

“Based on the port and opening up， GHM Greater Bay Area will take the marine economy as its important direction of future development， so as to further upgrade the location advantage of the sea into the advantage of science and technology， and promote the marine industrial economy. An Ran， Deputy Director and Principal Researcher of Comprehensive Development Research Institute of Sustainable Development and Marine Economy， Shenzhen， China， said， from the perspective of the basic rules of the development and evolution of bay area economy， on the one hand， bay area economy is a regional economy or city cluster economy towards the sea， which has the feature of general city cluster. On the other hand， the core cities or core functions of bay area economy  will develop overseas trade by relying on the port， drive manufacturing with the trade， and promote finance base on manufacturing industry， so as to gradually grow into the allocation center of global resources and elements. The GHM Greater Bay Area， backed by the inland hinterland and facing the ocean and the global market， is an important carrier and key node for linking the inland and coastal areas， international and domestic markets and two regional development models. Moreover， Pan-Pearl River Delta Economic Zone and Xijiang Economic Belt are the hinterland of GHM Greater Bay Area， which can enter the international market through core cities such as Hong Kong， Macao， Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

“The GHM Greater Bay Area boasts inherent advantages in the development of city cluster in BGEZ. Besides， BGEZ also has the advantage of linking inland and ASEAN as a gateway，” said An Ran. He also believed that GHM Greater Bay Area and BGEZ have a broad space for complementary cooperation， and the real decisive factor lies in industrial association and industrial complementarity.

BGEZ thriving with seaward economy

As a close neighbor of GHM Greater Bay Area， BGEZ located at the southwest end of Chinas coast， consists of administrative areas of Nanning， Beihai， Qinzhou， Fangchenggang， Yulin and Chongzuo. In recent years， by focusing on promoting planning and construction， open economy， infrastructure construction， development momentum， industrial transformation and urbanization， BGEZ has accelerated the development of seaward economy.

With the gradual improvement of infrastructure conditions， the handling capacity of the coastal ports in BGEZ has been rapidly enhanced， and Beibu Gulf Port has realized the full navigation coverage of the major ports in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. At present， Coastal economy has enjoyed booming development， forming a modern industrial system integrating with electronic information， petrochemical， metallurgy， new materials， grain， oil and food. Among them， there are 11 key industrial parks with a total value of over RMB 10 billion yuan， including two parks with an output value of over RMB 100 billion yuan. Thanks to the further implementation of the strategy of rejuvenating the seaward economy and promoting fishing through science and technology， the aquaculture industry and marine bio-medicine industry of Southern Pearl have sprung up， three marine pastures have been included in the planning and construction， and marine production has been spread to more than 70 countries and regions around the world.

In terms of foreign cooperation， BGEZ has focused on building an evaluation index system and a business environment evaluation mechanism that can be compared， evaluated， assessed and announced， so as to further optimize the business environment of the BGEZ. Also， BGEZ will allocate special funds for industrial development to support construction of border infrastructure such as China-Vietnam cross-border cooperation zones and border ports. In addition， BGEZ is also actively promoting the normal operation of sea-railway combined transportation， and plans to open more regular lines between Chongqing， Guizhou， Sichuan， Yunnan， Qinghai， Gansu， Shaanxi and new ports along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

“Four coordinations” to forge a model of bay area cooperation

In the Construction Plan of the Coordination Between BGEZ and GHM Greater Bay Area and Guangxi BGEZ Beihai-Fangchenggang-Qinzhou Integration Planning （2019-2025） formulated by BGEZ， the blueprint of building a model for bay area cooperation by BGEZ and GHM Greater Bay Area is gradually clear. To achieve this blueprint， Wei Ran， Executive Deputy Director of the Office of BGEZ， said in an interview with the media that “four coordinations” should be done.

The first one is the strategic coordination. The BGEZ city cluster and the GHM Greater Bay Area should strengthen the strategic linkage， promote the cooperation between Beibu Gulf Port and ports in GHM Greater Bay Area， and jointly build the China-ASEAN Port City Cooperation Network.

The second one is the industrial coordination. BGEZ and the GHM Greater Bay Area should strengthen the connection between enterprises and innovation resources， build an industry chain of shared benefits around key industry such as electronic information and marine industry， and promote the integrated development of advanced manufacturing industry， the complementary development of strategic emerging industry， the interconnected development of service industry and modern service industry， and the differentiated development of the marine economy. Also， BGEZ and the GHM Greater Bay Area should work with cities， industry associations and think tanks to build an industrial integration development mechanism and form a new model with the cooperation of government， industry， university and research institute.

The third one is the carrier coordination. BGEZ and the GHM Greater Bay Area should expand the spatial cooperation model of “urban + industrial parks”， accelerate the construction of high-level industrial cooperation demonstration zones， implement the strategy of promoting industrial transfer and the introduction of new and high technology， and promote the development of complementary industries. In addition， BGEZ and the GHM Greater Bay Area should speed up the building of China-ASEAN Information Port and jointly build an international information gateway.

The fourth one is the environment coordination. BGEZ and the GHM Greater Bay Area should optimize the allocation of innovation resources， improve the mechanism for collaborative innovation， and promote the undifferentiated and smooth flow of innovative talents， innovation platforms， and advanced technological achievements. Besides， they should establish and improve the mechanism for joint prevention and control of ecological and environmental protection， build an integrated ecological barrier， and create a harmonious ecological circle.