China Internet Media Forum: Greater Bay Area Summit

(Link to video remarks can be found here.)

Ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Siddharth Chatterjee.

As the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, I wish to thank the Cyberspace Administration of China, Phoenix TV, and iFeng.com for the opportunity to speak at the China Internet Media Forum and address this sub-forum on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

The Greater Bay Area has always been the most vibrant economic zone in China since the launch of the reform and opening-up policy.

In 1980, China designated Shenzhen as its first Special Economic Zone to open up to the world.

Four decades on, Shenzhen has been transformed from a fishing village to a global metropolis and powerhouse for science and technology.

The Greater Bay Area is now home to four mega cities - Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangzhou, with a total Gross Domestic Product of around 11 trillion RMB, 13% of China’s total Gross Domestic Product.

Despite great progress achieved in the Greater Bay Area, challenges remain in bridging the rural-urban and inland-costal development gap.

The persistent development gap has called for greater regional integration and coordination, which makes the development of the Greater Bay Area a key aspect of China’s development blueprint.

In 2017, President Xi Jinping, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao signed the Framework Agreement on the Development of the Greater Bay Area, and in 2019, the Outline Development Plan of the Greater Bay Area was promulgated.

The Greater Bay Area plays a crucial role in the country’s implementation of innovation-driven development and commitment to reform and opening-up.

The Greater Bay Area has great potential in demonstrating a new paradigm in coordinated development, harnessing rich financial, technological, and human resources and help China move from a manufacturing-based economy to an innovation-based economy.

The Greater Bay Area also leads in promoting sustainable development and the creation of more resilient urban areas.

Guangzhou has started the issuance of emissions certificates and the Guangzhou Carbon Futures Exchange was established in 2021, signaling the great potential for the Greater Bay Area to lead the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Greater Bay Area should continue serve as the face of China’s opening up to the world and a platform to share China’s experiences of coordinated development with other countries.

The United Nations has the potential to play a convening role in this process.

The United Nations has a long history of promoting sustainable development in the Greater Bay Area.

The United Nations University in Macau provides cutting-edge research to promote Information and Communications Technology for Development for the entire United Nations system.

Taking advantage of the strong technological capacity in the region, the Greater Bay Area could serve as a gateway to share China’s technological knowhow with developing countries.

The city of Shenzhen is a tech hub of China and a window to the world.

It has emerged as China's leading city for sustainability policies by phasing out polluting industries, imposing tough environmental standards, encouraging climate-friendly industries, supporting high-tech development, and regenerating urban areas.

The United Nations in China has enjoyed a long partnership with the municipal government working in different areas.

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund has been supporting the government to build Shenzhen into a Child friendly City.

United Nations Development Programme has worked on Sustainable Development Goals localization in this city and published the first city-level progress report on the Sustainable Development Goals for Shenzhen, which provides a standardized methodology to review Sustainable Development Goals progress.

The UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC) in Shenzhen is also a good example of providing vocational and technical training to young people in developing countries.

With your support, the United Nations and its Country Team in China stand ready in the Decade of Action to continue collaboration with all stakeholders in the Greater Bay Area, in the spirit of multilateralism to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for a better future.

I wish you a successful forum.