Zhongshan, a city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is attracting investment and professionals to improve its high-tech capacity.

The move is expected to help the Bay Area to become a world-leading innovation center.

The central government issued an outline development plan for the Bay Area in mid-February, which is expected to become one of the most famous areas in the world with a cluster of globally leading cities.

"It posed great opportunities to Zhongshan," said Chen Xudong, Party chief of the city, who made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Zhongshan Trade and Investment Fair & Top Talent Networking event on Thursday. "Every city in the area should exert its advantages to fulfill the common mission."

For Zhongshan, its traditional industries laid a foundation for the development of advanced technologies, he noted.

Official figures show that 18 towns in Zhongshan specialize in a wide range of manufacturing industries, including decorative lighting, hardware, small household appliances and blackwood furniture.

The equipment manufacturing, electronic information and household appliances industries can each generate more than 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) in annual industrial value, according to official figures. Another 10 industries can generate at least 10 billion yuan each.

"While integrating modern high tech with the real economy, we can develop other innovative industries, such as big data, the internet, artificial intelligence and biomedicine," Chen said.

He encouraged local companies to expand overseas cooperation and to compete with their foreign peers.

Positioned as a major transport hub for the central part of the Bay Area, Zhongshan will invest at least 150 billion yuan to connect it to neighboring cities by highways, trains and subways, according to the Party chief.

One of the most important projects is a bridge that will connect Zhongshan with Shenzhen, one of the most developed cities in China, which is located in the Bay Area. The project will cut the travel time from two hours to about 20 minutes when it's completed in 2024.

Zhongshan is surrounded by three parts of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone - Nansha in Guangzhou, Hengqin in Zhuhai, and Shekou and Qianhai in Shenzhen - and five airports, Chen said.

Zhongshan Mayor Wei Weihan said the city is in a new round of development.

"The government will go all-out to provide the best services and create the most favorable environment for innovation and startups, and a comfortable living environment for professionals," he said.

chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/01/2019 page12)