Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau today led a delegation comprising representatives of enterprises from Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) countries operating in Hong Kong to visit renowned technology companies and organisations in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

On the second day of a two-day visit to the Greater Bay Area, Mr Yau led the delegation on a visit this morning to the headquarters of Huawei Technologies Co, in Shenzhen, to learn more about the company’s latest developments, including new innovative applications and services in areas such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and 5G solutions.

Mr Yau and the delegation later arrived in Guangzhou, where they attended a meeting and luncheon with Guangdong Department of Commerce Director General Zhang Jinsong.

Mr Yau said the visit was aimed at capitalising on Hong Kong’s unique role under the BRI, and its long-standing close partnerships with bay area cities, to enable enterprises to better understand the vast business opportunities in the bay area, with a view to promoting Hong Kong as a service base for enterprises to tap the Mainland market.

He said he hoped that maximum synergy and opportunities for collaboration could be created by the visit, and highlighted that there are currently around 210,000 Hong Kong enterprises operating in Guangdong, accounting for 70 per cent of foreign direct investment enterprises in the province.

Mr Yau noted that some of these business operations are offices established by overseas enterprises in Hong Kong. Such enterprises, he said, leverage Hong Kong’s distinctive advantage of enjoying strong support from the motherland while also being closely connected to the world when entering the Guangdong market via Hong Kong.

He stressed that Guangdong and Hong Kong can offer staunch support to the BRI’s high-quality development by making full use of opportunities brought about by the bay area.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Nansha Planning Exhibition Hall in Nansha District to learn about the district's development and achievements in recent years, as well as the blueprint for its future development.

The delegation later visited Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle startup in the district, and experienced first-hand its self-developed autonomous saloon cars.

The delegation returned to Hong Kong this evening.