Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip today visited Guangzhou to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the Guangzhou-Hong Kong Special Cooperation Zone for Intelligent Manufacturing and to exchange views with Mainland scholars on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Developed and operated by the Guangzhou Development District and a Hong Kong enterprise, the special cooperation zone comprises the construction of a Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao immigration building, an intelligent international exhibition centre and facilities for a Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao ferry service.

Mr Nip was pleased to learn that the launch of the ferry service will reduce the travel time between the north-eastern part of Guangzhou and Hong Kong International Airport to 1 hour and 30 minutes, which will help bring in more visitors and business opportunities for the airport.

He welcomed the active participation of Hong Kong's business sector in the development of the bay area, adding that he hoped the business sector would join with the government to broaden the space for development in the bay area.

Mr Nip then toured Sun Yat-sen University's Institute of Guangdong, Hong Kong & Macao Development Studies and exchanged views with scholars there on the development of the bay area. He was also briefed by the institute on its research and analysis relating to the bay area.

He also visited the Guangzhou Tianhe Hong Kong & Macau Youth Association entrepreneurship base to learn about its operation and facilities. The base is one of the first batch of 10 youth entrepreneurial bases that were presented with a plaque during the 21st Plenary of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference on May 16.

Mr Nip said that the Special Administrative Region Government is supportive to young Hong Kong people participating in the development of the bay area, adding that it hopes to work with the Guangdong provincial government to establish an Alliance for Youth Innovation & Entrepreneurial Bases as a one-stop information, publicity and exchange platform to serve Hong Kong young people starting business in the bay area.

Before concluding his visit, he toured the Guangzhou Chow Tai Fook Finance Centre to keep abreast of the business development of Hong Kong enterprises there.