"SCO Looking South" to Form Synergy Between the National Strategy and the Greater Bay Area
The spirit of openness is a common feature of bay areas. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is at the forefront of China's reform and opening up. Located in Jiaozhou Bay, SCODA is also a pioneer in opening up.
To build a new platform for Belt and Road international cooperation and solve the difficulties in practical cooperation, SCODA must have a global vision and an open attitude.
Zhang Xinzhu, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee, and Secretary of the CPC Working Committee of SCODA, led a team to visit the Greater Bay Area. They held the Seminar on the Economic and Trade Cooperation between the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in Guangzhou and attended the Shandong-Macao Economic and Trade Cooperation Exchange Conference. Practical cooperation agreements were reached during the visit.
Under the background of the previous successful collaboration with Beijing, Shanghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Chongqing, with the successful conclusion of this trip to the Greater Bay Area, the external collaboration framework of SCODA, namely "traversing East and West, connecting North and South" has taken shape, and will help to serve the construction of a new development pattern featuring "links running eastward and westward, across land and over the sea".
In the surging tide of the times, only those who work diligently can stand out in the competition. SCODA should audaciously enlarge its public product attributes, not only to expand the "circle of friends" in key domestic areas such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area, but also to accelerate the "going global" of domestic enterprises and "bring in" international investment, and gather high-quality resources and elements on a global scale to facilitate the high-quality development of the Belt and Road.
Joining Hands with Guangdong Enterprises for a Gathering Between Two Bay Areas in Autumn
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. As the Belt and Road cooperation has moved from "sketching" to "meticulous painting", it has become the most popular international public good and the largest platform for international cooperation.
As a new platform for Belt and Road international cooperation, SCODA should contribute new ideas for high-quality co-construction of the Belt and Road, which is both its mission as a "major national task" and an inevitable requirement for forming a new development pattern.
A pioneer should ride on the momentum. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a strategic junction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It has many advantages, such as a prime location, a robust industrial base, a comprehensive financial system, a concentration of innovation resources, and a strong influence in the region. It is enhancing its economic, trade, and scientific cooperation with other countries and regions that participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. It is also promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges that support and exemplify the Belt and Road Initiative. It is an important pillar for the integration of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
The two sides are "major national task" and "major national strategy". We share the spirit of openness and are both cooperation platforms of the "Belt and Road". Therefore, the collaboration between the two sides is both natural and complementary.
Facing the good opportunity, SCODA takes pragmatic measures.
On October 18, the "Together with Guangdong Enterprises to Achieve Win-Win Results" Seminar on the Economic and Trade Cooperation between China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was held in Guangzhou.
The seminar focused on the "connection of platforms, production capacity cooperation, coordinated collaboration, and coordinated development", fully leveraged the nature of SCODA as a public good, promoted all-round cooperation between the two sides in industrial cluster convergence, upgrading of shipping capacity, people-to-people exchanges and interaction.
During the seminar, the strategic cooperation of the Invest in SCODA· Greater Bay Area Business Association was launched, and nine business associations, including the Guangdong Province Federation of Industry Association and the Guangdong Automobile Aftermarket Dealers Association, became partners of "Invest in SCODA".
From the perspective of cooperation areas, SCODA prioritizes several industries in cooperation with partners from South China, including the advantageous industry of Guangdong Province—the automobile industry. As a large developed province with the largest automobile production and consumption in China, Guangdong's automobile output reached 4.1537 million units in 2022. In this context, the cooperation between SCODA and the Guangdong Automobile Aftermarket Dealers Association will not only open up new sales for Guangdong's automobile industry, it is also expected to improve its economic and trade level with partners from SCO countries and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
This event establishes connections between the two sides, which are 1,000 kilometers away from each other, and links SCODA with the high-quality resources of the Greater Bay Area, which is represented by Guangzhou, and will facilitate the building of the "four centers" of SCODA.
Guangzhou, a "millennium commercial city", has been a hub of trade and logistics since ancient times. The airport logistics hub in the north has brought a boom in cross-border e-commerce. the Nansha Port logistics hub in the south could access the world. In the west, there is Guangzhou International Port, and the railway container center station, which is the only national railway freight station in Guangdong Province, and the largest in South China. The railway intermodal transport hub in the east is the only super large transport logistics hub in Guangzhou.
Guangzhou's logistics hub distribution advantages can facilitate SCODA to access markets in ASEAN countries and RCEP member states to the south. Considering that SCODA itself can influence Central Asia to the west, such an international logistics channel from Central Asia through SCODA to Guangzhou Port can also promote the construction of a major channel with "links running eastward and westward, across land and over the sea".
In addition, the ASEAN countries directly facing Guangzhou and SCO countries facing SCODA are all internationally recognized emerging markets for foreign trade. With the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative and the signing of the free trade agreements between China and ASEAN countries, ASEAN and SCO countries have become important destinations for China's imports and exports. Therefore, with Guangzhou as the pivot, SCODA could expand trade exchanges with ASEAN countries. Meanwhile, SCODA could also facilitate trade exchanges between SCO countries and Guangzhou, which can not only empower SCODA's building of a modern trade center and a two-way investment center but also bring new opportunities for the development of foreign trade in Guangzhou, bringing mutual benefits and win-win results for both sides.
To develop a region, industry is the cornerstone, and science and technology is the engine. Guangzhou's strong industrial base and rich scientific and technological innovation resources are also areas in which SCODA could collaborate.
During this seminar, five projects, including the North China Settlement Center of Gowe Group and the SCO Biomedical Industry Platform, have been signed, covering biomedicine, intelligent manufacturing, cross-border e-commerce, and other fields, which are industrial directions prioritized by SCODA.
The successful signing and implementation of these projects also reflects, to a certain extent, the attraction posed by the strong development momentum of SCODA to enterprises of the Greater Bay Area in various fields.
Therefore, making an in-depth exploration of the internal logic of the collaboration between SCODA and Guangzhou is precisely meant to seize the commanding heights of development and achieve a new leap forward in development by leveraging the momentum and making their efforts in today's accelerating evolution of economic globalization and regional integration.
Only by taking advantage of its strong suits can SCODA leverage both the internal and external competitive resources, thus producing a multiplier effect.
Building Partnership with Macao to Magnify the Advantage of Platform Collaboration
As one of the two special administrative regions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Macao enjoys the advantages of high-level openness to the international market and close connection with the domestic market. Its unique historical background, harmonious social and cultural heritage, and diversified network of overseas Chinese have contributed to Macao's special status.
In recent years, Shandong has actively integrated into the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with increasingly frequent economic and trade exchanges and deepening cultural and people-to-people exchanges, forming a sound long-term cooperation mechanism.
On October 19, the Shandong-Macao Economic and Trade Cooperation Exchange Conference themed on Sharing New Opportunities for Opening up and Development was held in Macao. A promotion to SCODA was delivered during the event.
From the perspective of development orientation, SCODA and Macao share complementarity in their cooperation. Macao is an important node on the Maritime Silk Road, a platform for exchanges between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and a gateway for China's entry into Europe and the world. SCODA is the only new platform for international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative to carry out local economic and trade cooperation with SCO countries. Macao's advantages as a platform connecting Portuguese-speaking countries can help SCODA expand its "circle of friends".
Whether in the past or the future, Macao has always been an important link for SCODA to go further.
In January 2021, SCODA unveiled and established the liaison station of SCODA in Macao (Portuguese-speaking countries). In October of the following year, during the 27th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair, SCODA and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute jointly hosted the SCODA Macao Promotion and Exchange Meeting.
Smooth cooperation in the past becomes the beginning of new communication, and foretells future partnership.
In the intensive trip of SCODA to the south, a focus has always been clear, that is, to emphasize the path of interaction and coupling between SCODA and various high-quality platforms in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the field of economic and trade cooperation. As Zhang Xinzhu said: "As a world tourism and leisure center and a platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, Macao enjoys broad space and huge potential for cooperation with SCODA."
It means that the cooperation between SCODA and Macao is not simply "point-to-point" investment promotion. It aims to speed up the linking of high-quality elements such as talent, technology, and resources in a larger scope through the connection of advantageous platforms.
From the perspective of development, cooperation between the two sides is feasible.
In terms of logistics, SCODA is building the SCO International Hub Port by leveraging the collaboration of the sea, land, air, and rail ports. Macao, as a bridge and link between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, has the advantage of international transportation connecting the Portuguese-speaking countries.
SCODA has established platforms such as the SCO Economic and Trade Comprehensive Service Platform and the "Silk Road E-Commerce" Comprehensive Service Base to facilitate trade. Macao has a strong foundation for developing cross-border e-commerce. According to the Overall Development Plan of Hengqin, Hengqin should support the diversification of Macao's industries and leverage its location at the intersection of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao to foster close cooperation and integrated development with Hong Kong and Macao. In the next five years, SCODA will build the China-Portugal commodity exhibition and sales center and cross-border e-commerce platform, focusing on Brazil, Portugal, and Angola.
In terms of investment, the "SCO Capital Port" has set sail, and two QDLP funds with a total of 250 million USD help domestic funds to invest overseas. Meanwhile, the modern financial industry is one of the strategic priorities of Macao's economic development, with high-quality platforms such as Chongwa (Macao) Financial Asset Exchange Co., Ltd., and can also meet enterprises' demands of "going global".
In terms of people-to-people exchange, the China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade has been put into operation, and can serve as a platform for multilateral economic and trade cooperation and cultivate talents for SCO countries. Macao is rich in higher education resources, including the Macao University of Science and Technology and the City University of Macau. The two sides can strengthen communication in personnel training and academic exchanges, promote cultural integration, and realize the two-way flow of innovative factors.
These four areas are echoing the "four centers" that SCODA is building. Therefore, the collaboration between SCODA and Macao is a cooperation model worth expecting.
After all, when more emphasis is put on high-level opening up, only by gathering more resources can we breed new development opportunities.
By the Haojiang River, under Guia Hill and Penha Hill, SCODA and Macao are joining hands.
Although SCODA's visit to the Greater Bay Area is brief, it is not the conclusion, but a good start for its in-depth partnership with the Greater Bay Area. At the same time, with the successful conclusion of the trip to the Greater Bay Area, SCODA has also filled the last piece of the puzzle of the 1.0 version of its collaboration with regional partners.
Filling the Last Piece of Puzzle! SCODA's Collaboration with Regional Partners Achieved First Fruits
Bloom in spring and harvest in Autumn.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the "Belt and Road" Initiative. In the past ten years, through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has opened its door wider to the world. The inland regions have shifted from "defenders" to "forwards". The coastal areas have opened up to a higher level. The Chinese market has closer connections with the global market.
Currently, the world is undergoing unprecedented changes, characterized by shifts in global dynamics, the evolution of the times, and transformative moments in history. To this end, China has announced eight major steps it will take to support the joint pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation: building a multidimensional Belt and Road connectivity network, supporting an open world economy, carrying out practical cooperation, promoting green development, advancing scientific and technological innovation, supporting people-to-people exchanges, promoting integrity-based Belt and Road cooperation, strengthening institutional building for international Belt and Road cooperation.
The "eight steps" need to be implemented with specific operations, building an open, inclusive, interconnected world with common development becomes the development vision of the Belt and Road Initiative. The value of SCODA will be further highlighted.
This is mainly reflected in two aspects: collaboration with regional partners and SCODA as a public product. The two aspects share a logical coherence.
For the former, looking back at the collaboration layout of SCODA this year, it has established liaison centers in Beijing and Shanghai, strengthened practical cooperation with Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and other areas in logistics channels, production capacity cooperation, industrial transfer, and other fields. Each step of its "going global" efforts is not only a practical journey to align with national strategies and seize development opportunities, but also a journey to emancipate minds and innovate ideas, as well as a journey of cooperation to make bonds and seek common development.
With the most active attitude and the most pragmatic actions, SCODA has made efforts to interact with the world. It is constantly fabricating the "network of relationships" that influence the whole country, further consolidating its pivotal positioning in the pattern of opening up through links running eastward and westward, across land and over sea. In this way, it is implementing the mission of the times by making an all-out effort to crack the difficulties in practical cooperation.
For the latter, as a high-level open platform, SCODA is gaining development momentum, and seeing its public product attributes increasingly prominent.
For one thing, this is reflected in the innovative achievements of the construction of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Comprehensive Service Platform, the "Silk Road E-Commerce" Comprehensive Service Base. For another, it is based on a path of action explored in deepening the connection with more regions and high-quality platforms during its overseas collaboration. Win-win results are achieved by amplifying the competitive resources of the two platforms through the strength of the platforms.
The trip to Macao mentioned above is a vivid example of SCODA amplifying its public goods attribute through the strength of the platforms. In the previous interactions with Xi 'an and Kashgar, SCODA either leveraged the "SCO Law and Intelligence Valley" to connect with the international commercial legal service resources of Xi 'an, or implemented practical cooperation projects such as the SCO-Kashgar International Hub Port. We can see the intention of SCODA to seek to enlarge its public product attributes through high-quality overseas collaboration.
On the other hand, as the public product attributes of SCODA are further improved, more regions are attracted to join the "circle of friends" of SCODA, and are interested in realizing the maximum value of serving the bigger picture of national development through win-win cooperation.
It can be said that the collaboration of SCODA with regional partners has already reached a deeper level of coordinated development, transforming the traditional single-point cooperation into two-way and mutually beneficial cooperation through various platforms and models. This shift reflects not only the "hard connectivity" of the economic and trade cooperation platform and "soft connectivity" of the economic and trade demonstration model, but also the Silk Road spirit of "peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, and mutual benefit".
Such efforts deliver substantial results at present and will benefit future generations.
With version 1.0 of regional collaboration taking shape, it will be the new expectation of SCODA to leverage its public product attributes and further amplify the role and advantages of the hub platform, thus facilitating high-quality Belt and Road development and building a new platform for Belt and Road international cooperation.