This aerial photo taken on June 29, 2022 shows a view of the Nansha Bridge, which links Guangzhou city and Dongguan city, in south China's Guangdong province. (LIU DAWEI / XINHUA)

Guangzhou’s Nansha district signed an agreement with Hong Kong and Macao on Thursday on talent cooperation as part of their broader efforts to promote integrated development of talents in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Under the agreement, the three parties will jointly work on the first batch of nine talent-related projects. 

As one of the projects, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao talents collaborative development offices were set up in Nansha, Hong Kong and Macao on Thursday. The offices offer a range of services, including policy publicity, publishing information on talent needs, jointly organizing exchanges activities, and jointly attracting global talents. 

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Apart from the establishment of institutions, Nansha, Hong Kong and Macao will also work hand in hand to organize academic visits and internship programs for international youths, carry out studies on how to promote integrated development of talents, create unified standards for assessing talents, etc. 

Sio Chi-veng, council president of the Macau Institute of Engineers, said the inauguration of talent offices will help further enhance interaction of talent work among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao

Sio Chi-veng, council president of the Macau Institute of Engineers, said the inauguration of talent offices will help further enhance interaction of talent work among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. 

“I believe Nansha will become the bridgehead for Hong Kong and Macao talents to integrate into the Greater Bay Area,” he said. 

The signing of the agreement is the latest among a number of moves by Nansha to attract more talents from Hong Kong and Macao to work, live and set up offices there.

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Nansha, Shenzhen’s Qianhai and Zhuhai’s Hengqin are designated by the central government as key development zones in the Greater Bay Area to foster cross-border collaboration.

The State Council unveiled an overall plan in June 2022 to promote comprehensive cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao by further opening up in Nansha. 

Under the blueprint, a series of preferential policies have been rolled out for Hong Kong and Macao residents working and living in Nansha. For example, they are exempted from the portion of personal income tax that exceeds the rate levied in Hong Kong and Macao. 

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Recognition of qualifications has been achieved in Nansha for Hong Kong and Macao professionals in 13 fields including construction, engineering, tax and tourism, which enables them to practice across the border.