Guangdong province has pledged to strengthen cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao in implementing the country's "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

In the "Implementation Scheme of Guangdong's Participation in the Construction of "One Belt, One Road" published on Wednesday, the province said it will join hands with the two Special Administrative Regions to develop the shipping industry and build cross-border infrastructure.

It will also take advantage of the two cities' edge in finance and professional services to support bilateral trade between the province and countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

He Ningka, director of the Guangdong Development and Reform Commission, said the province has three goals. "Firstly, we'll promote the construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Secondly, cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao will be emphasized. We'll also expand economic and trade co-operation. These are Guangdong's characteristics."

Compared with other mainland provinces, Guangdong's economic and trade cooperation with the Maritime Silk Road countries has been the largest, with total imports and exports between the two sides reaching $130.9 billion last year.

According to He, one of the highlights of Guangdong's program is to build a world-class port group covering Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Shantou and Hong Kong ports.

"Shenzhen and Guangzhou are expected to be the leading ports, while Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Shantou, Chaozhou and other surrounding small- and medium-sized ports will play supporting roles. Hong Kong port will also be included in the planning," he said.

Song Ding, director of the Regional and Enterprise Competitiveness Research Center at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said Guangdong, as a processing base, has nurtured a number of globally notable ports.

Mao Yanhua, a professor at the Center for Studies of Hong Kong, Macao and Pearl River Delta and deputy head of the Free Trade Zone Research Institute at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University, dismissed worries that Hong Kong would be overshadowed by neighboring ports. He believes that the creation of a world-class port group will boost trade in the region.

"Hong Kong port outperforms its mainland counterparts in terms of management. Customs supervision, for example, is more flexible in the HKSAR, lowering logistics time and cost. So goods with special requirements, like limitations on delivery time, may still go through Hong Kong port in future," Mao explained.

"Hong Kong port belongs to the third-generation, while mainland ports are still in the second-generation. Hong Kong port will focus on high-end shipping services, like financing and insurance," he added.

sally@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 06/05/2015 page9)