Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Friday called on local and Chinese-mainland entrepreneurs to embrace game-changing business innovations to achieve high-quality development and contribute to the country’s modernization drive.

He made the remarks at an annual dinner party in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, attendedby hundreds of business leaders, government officials and scholars from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Lee said enterprises must seize the opportunities presented by the new round of the technological revolution and China’s push for higher-level opening-up to upgrade themselves.

He urged Hong Kong and global businesses to make the most of the favorable policies, such as the newly revised Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, signed in 2003, to explore mainland markets and at the same time exchange talent and capital with the mainland.

He encouraged Hong Kong business leaders to serve as superconnectors and super value-adders between the Chinese and international markets, helping the city better engage in the national development and serve the nation’s opening-up to the outside world.

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Lee highlighted the role of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone in driving innovation. He said the special administrative region government seeks to build Hong Kong Park in the zone into a bridge between the city’s basic research prowess and mainland's sprawling supply chain and manufacturing system to accelerate innovation.

The dinner was part of the GBA iForum cum Dinner 2025, co-organized by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries alongside various organizations from Guangdong and Hong Kong. Around 800 members from the industrial and commercial sectors, academia, and government representatives from the Greater Bay Area attended the event.

At the GBA iForum, which took place before the dinner party, Hong Kong Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong urged the city’s business leaders to embrace transformative technologies to enhance productivity and align with national development priorities.

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“Entrepreneurs, industrialists, and startups that put research findings into practice are equally important as researchers,” he said.

He emphasized the need to leverage the strengths of Hong Kong entrepreneurs as the city seeks tospearhead the development of innovation-driven new quality productive forces in the GBA and contribute to national progress.

Sun said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has introduced a series of policy incentives, including three funding projects valued at around HK$10 billion ($1.28 billion) each, to promote innovation-driven reforms aimed at boosting productivity across various industries. “The success of these projects relies on the active participation and support of the business community,” he said.

Sun also highlighted collaboration between HKSAR authorities and central authorities to facilitate Hong Kong businesses’ involvement in national initiatives, such as through the Hetao zone.

Sun pledged to accelerate the development of the zone, establishing top-tier laboratories to attract global resources, and maximizing the unique advantage of its cross-border location to drive innovation.

Steve Chuang Tzu-hsiung, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, said that the cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has become a poster child of China’s market-oriented reforms that began in 1978. Over time, this partnership has evolved into a cornerstone of the nationally significant GBA develoment initiative.

He expressed hope that the meeting would help businesses from both cities uncover new opportunities and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, ultimately contributing to the development of the GBA.

During his speech, Zhang Jinzhou, deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, highlighted several milestone initiatives in the city’s growing partnership with Hong Kong.

These initiatives include the establishment of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone and the Hetao zone as well as efforts to formulate the nation’s first regional investor protection rules in 2023 and refine the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect program.

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He said that these endeavors have contributed to the development of the “one country, two systems” framework, adding that such collaborations in the business sector will inspire closer cooperation in even broader fields.