Promoting Hong Kong’s strengths and the opportunities offered in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was the theme of a four-day visit to London this week by Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Pamela Lam Nga-man.

She highlighted the special administrative region’s inaugural Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026-30) at various events covering talent recruitment, economic and trade promotion, cultural industries and youth development during the trip which ended on Saturday.

Addressing an event entitled “Hong Kong-Global Talent & Career Showcase” in the British capital organized by Hong Kong Talent Engage, Lam said the SAR’s first development blueprint clearly states the city will continue to participate in the Greater Bay Area’s development to make it a first-class, international bay area with global influence.

Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis serves as the main platform for the city to deeply engage in developing the 11-city cluster Greater Bay Area, and actively integrate into overall national development, she said.

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Hong Kong Park in the Hetao Shenzhen‑Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co‑operation Zone offers a cross-boundary cooperation platform for enterprises and international professionals to leverage the SAR’s innovation and technology research and business environment to gain easy access to the industrial chains and markets of Shenzhen and other Greater Bay Area cities, Lam said.

Briefing representatives of the business sector, including the China-Britain Business Council and the Hong Kong Association, at a luncheon, Lam highlighted Hong Kong’s repeated outstanding performance in the world’s economic freedom, competitiveness and financial market rankings in recent years.

Over the next five years, she said Hong Kong will enhance its traditional strengths, boost innovation-technology cooperation and prioritize the Northern Metropolis for future development to open a new chapter for the tech sector.

She urged enterprises to leverage the SAR’s advantage of being closely connected to the Chinese mainland and the world, and build up a presence in the city to tap into the vast Greater Bay Area market.

At a reception to promote culture and the arts in the Greater Bay Area, Lam said under the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026-30), Hong Kong will continue to play its vital role as an East-meets-West center for cultural and artistic exchange.

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Hong Kong is among the world’s top three arts trading centers and the HKSAR government will further expand the scale of Hong Kong's cultural and creative industries, she said.

The Greater Bay Area development chief encouraged collectors, museums, and arts and cultural institutions to make good use of Hong Kong’s role as the “super connector” and “super value-adder” to link up with the vast cultural and arts markets and resources in the region.

Lam also met Minister and Chief of the Economic and Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, Yu Benlin, to brief him on Hong Kong’s five-year development blueprint, as well as the HKSAR government’s work in accelerating development in the Greater Bay Area.

Meetings were also held with Hong Kong students in the UK to introduce the diverse opportunities available for young people in the Greater Bay Area as set out in the city’s five-year plan.