The Government promulgated the Development Outline for the Hong Kong Park (the Park) of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone (the Development Outline) today (November 20). The Development Outline comprehensively and systematically outlines the vision and mission of the development of the Hong Kong Park in the Loop, the historical background and basis of the Loop development, major development directions, strategy and target of the Park, and the facilitation measures to promote the flow of cross-boundary elements between the Hong Kong Park and the Shenzhen Park, with a view to setting out a clear development plan for the Hong Kong Park.

The Chief Executive announced in this year's Policy Address that the Government has set up the Steering Committee on the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Loop, chaired by the Chief Executive himself, to lead the Government to formulate the overall strategy, planning and layout for the development of the Hong Kong Park, and to publish the Development Outline within this year. The Development Outline will set out the innovative policies facilitating the flow of personnel, materials, capital and data between the Hong Kong Park and the Shenzhen Park in the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone (Hetao Co-operation Zone), making it a crucial source of new quality productive forces for the country.

The country promulgated the Development Plan for Shenzhen Park of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone in August last year, setting out three major development positionings of the Hetao Co-operation Zone, namely as (1) a pilot zone for Shenzhen-Hong Kong active co-operation in technology and innovation; (2) a testing zone for new rules of international advanced technology and innovation; and (3) a cluster for pilot production and transformation for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). On the basis of these three major positionings, as well as the vision and mission of the development of the Hong Kong Park, the Development Outline proposes to take forward at full steam the development of the Hong Kong Park in accordance with the following four major directions, namely "to build a world-class industry-academia-research platform", "to establish an internationally competitive R&D (research and development) transformation and pilot production base for industries"; "to foster a hub for pooling global innovation and technology resources" and "to cultivate a testing ground for institutional and policy innovation".

At the same time, the Development Outline puts forward clear development targets for the Park with two important five-year milestones to drive the development of the Hong Kong Park in the Loop.

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, said, "The Hetao Co-operation Zone, consisting of the Hong Kong Park and the Shenzhen Park, is one of the major co-operation platforms among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao under the National 14th Five-Year Plan. To better implement the country’s major strategic development of the Hetao Co-operation Zone, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government formulated the Development Outline, setting out the important development directions, strategy and target of the Hong Kong Park in the Loop and leading the high-quality development of the Hong Kong Park in the Loop through top-level design. The HKSAR Government will follow the development strategy proposed in the Development Outline, and capitalise on the strengths of 'one country, two systems' and the geographic advantages of 'one river, two banks', with a view to promoting the development of the Hong Kong Park at full steam, and joining hands with Shenzhen to develop the Hetao Co-operation Zone into a world-class key innovation and technology platform and an important engine for the high-quality development of the GBA."

The Hetao Co-operation Zone, located on the two sides of the Shenzhen River, is established under the vision of "one river, two banks" and "one zone, two parks". It consists of the 87-hectare Hong Kong Park and the 300-hectare Shenzhen Park. With the completion of the first batch of buildings in Phase 1 of the Hong Kong Park starting from the end of this year, the Park will officially enter into its operational phase next year. The next stage will focus on attracting enterprises and investment, as well as appealing to leading companies and talent on the Mainland and abroad to set foot in the Park. The HKSAR Government will continue to work closely with the Shenzhen Municipal Government and relevant stakeholders to promote the development of the Hong Kong Park in the Loop according to the development strategy proposed in the Development Outline.

The Development Outline has been uploaded to the website of the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau (www.itib.gov.hk/en/index.html).