Under the guidance of the Finance Office of Guangdong Provincial Government and the Bureau of Financial Affairs of Guangzhou, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics hosted the 2018 International Forum of the Bay Area Economic Development on June 23rd 2018, at the 7th China (Guangzhou) International Finance Expo. With the theme of “Global Dialogue on the World Bay”, the international forum invites UN experts and top scholars studying the world's Bay Area economy to explore the development trend of the World Bay Area, the economic development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and jointly grasp the future Economic direction of the Bay Area.
Chen Yunxian, the former vice governor of Guangdong Provincial Government and the chairman of Guangdong Provincial Financial Experts Advisory Committee; Chen Zhiying, member of the Standing Committee of Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee and the executive vice mayor of Guangzhou; Liang Jianguo, member of Party Committee of the Financial Affairs Office of Guangdong Provincial Government; Qiu Yitong, director of the Bureau of Financial Affairs of Guangzhou; Huang Xiaobo, secretary of Party Committee of Guangdong University of Finance and Economics; Yu Haifeng, president of Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Wang Tinghui and Zou Xinyue, both vice presidents of Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, attended the forum.
Huang Xiaobo delivered a speech on behalf of the organizer. He pointed out that the Bay Area economy is a new highlight of the world economic map. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area has rich innovation factors, mature capital markets and a complete industrial system, which will surely become a highland for financial technology and industrial innovation. With the planning outline for Greater Bay Area coming out soon, the forum themed on “science and technology, finance, industrial integration” is just at the right time to be convened.
Following the first International Forum of the Bay Area Economic Development held successfully last year, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics held the 2nd International Forum of the Bay Area Economic Development and established a dialogue platform between the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and the International Bay Area, opening up a new way of global exchange and cooperation in the economic development of the Bay Area. He hoped that the convening of this forum will further bring together the world's top wisdom and agglomeration of essential resources to jointly promote the pace of innovation and development in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and promote the rapid development of various economic entities in the Bay Area. He said that GDUFE (short for Guangdong University of Finance and Economics) will take the meeting as an opportunity to improve the core competitiveness and influence of the school and better serve the economic construction of Greater Bay Area.
Chen Zhiying delivered a speech. He pointed out that the Bay Area economy, as an important coastal economic form, is a prominent highlight of today's international economic map and a prominent symbol of the world's leading coastal cities. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area aims to promote the deep cooperation between the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong and Hong Kong and Macao, and promote the integration of the region, to create a world-class Greater Bay area with coordinated development and connectivity. As the capital city of Guangdong Province, as well as the core city of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou will further explore and make full use of resources in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, take the lead in the reform and innovation of Greater Bay Area with the city's humanistic spirit of openness, tolerance, enthusiasm, and truth-seeking, enhance the city's cohesive and radiation power, and promote the coordinated development of the urban agglomerations of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
The morning forum was hosted by Huang Qingan, dean of the International Business School of GDUFE. Anders Johnson, chief of the innovation policy section of the Economic cooperation and trade division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) explained the current trend of hyper global and trans-localization of the economy, on the theme of the sustainable economic development of Asia and proposed that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area will not only have great significance to China's economic development, but also have a profound impact on Asia and even the world.
Zhang Yuyan, director of the Institute of World Politics and Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said about the advantages and difficulties faced by the current construction of the Greater Bay Area, and proposed that the multi-pronged approach from the perspective of artifacts, systems, currencies and ideas should be implemented to promote the economic construction of the Greater Bay Area. Harald Hau, Professor of finance, from the Finance Institute at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, shared his research on credit issues in China's financial markets and talked about the impact of today's financial science and technology on China's credit market. Chen Yunxian expounded his thoughts on the financial development of Greater Bay Area, and pointed out that we should explore key breakthrough areas, establish and improve offshore onshore special accounts and propose the concept of NRA+.
The afternoon forum was hosted by Wang Tinghui, and four top Chinese and foreign scholars held an ideological confrontation on the theme of “Financial Science and Technology Industry Integration and Promoting Economic Development in the Bay Area”. Shahina Waheed, the National Project Coordination Officer from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), cited Pakistan’s practice as an exploration pattern, and proposed to utilize the clean technology innovation to lead the economic growth, around the innovation and entrepreneurship of regional clean technology construction. Ye Zhen, Professor of finance, from Coventry University London, gave a speech on the theme of “Financial Clustering, Innovation Incentives”. Nigel de Bussy, vice president of Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia and also dean of the Business School of Curtin University, emphasized the importance of building local brands.
Yu Haifeng proposed to build an innovative ecosystem in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and build an innovative community. He pointed out that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area has already the basic conditions for building an innovative ecosystem, but at the same time it faces the challenges of uneven distribution of innovative resources in the region, lack of coordination and waste of resources, and large differences in the systems of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, which hinder the flow of innovation factors. In this regard, he proposed to promote the deep integration of industry, academia and research, innovation and technology together to enhance efficiency, give full play to the main position of science and technology enterprises in the Bay Area in innovation, accelerate the construction of a globally competitive team of innovative talents and break down administrative barriers, and eliminate the contradiction between regional integration and stimulate innovation.
The round table meeting was hosted by Ye zhen, in which experts discussed around “The Financial, Science and Technology Industry Integration Development in the Greater Bay Area”. Zou Xinyue analyzed how to make different cities in Guangdong-Hong Kong and Macau Greater Bay Area play their respective roles according to their own characteristics He believes that Greater Bay Area should consolidate Hong Kong's status, regulate the development of Macau's gaming industry, strengthen Shenzhen's core role, and integrate the rising Guangzhou trade industry. He pointed out that Greater Bay Area bears the mission of building a strong country, which also needs to attach great importance to the risks precautions in the process of institutional reform, technological innovation, and financial openness.
At the forum, Liu Lou, deputy director of the Guangdong Regional Management Innovation Research Center, introduced the Guangdong-Hong Kong and Macau Greater Bay Area Research Report. The report, which will be completed in this September, includes the enlightenment of other Bay Areas in the world to the Guangdong-Hong Kong and Macau Greater Bay Area, the problems faced by Guangdong-Hong Kong and Macau Greater Bay Area construction, and the corresponding development strategies and recommendations.
The First Forum of the Great Bay of Economic Development was held by Guangdong University of Finance and Economics on Nov. 21st 2017.
The first forum had invited Prof. Sargent, the Nobel Prize winner to make the keynote speech, which had attracted more than 4,000 attendees from China and generated a wide-reaching impact. The Forum will be held every year, which will welcome famous experts from all over the world.
