Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn today officiated at the Mainland & Hong Kong Construction Forum 2024, which was attended by over 800 industry practitioners from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
    

Speaking at the opening ceremony for the event, held in Guangzhou, Ms Linn said that Hong Kong’s construction industry has rich experience in undertaking large-scale infrastructure projects, adding that its professional engineering service standards are well recognised internationally.
 

Hong Kong construction and engineering-related professionals have participated in numerous overseas infrastructure projects, working together with Mainland enterprises in support of the Belt & Road Initiative, she added.
 

Ms Linn said she hoped the forum would serve as a cross-regional and high-level exchange platform for the construction industries of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau to draw on their collective wisdom to enhance construction and infrastructure standards in the Greater Bay Area.
 

Prior to attending the forum, the development chief met Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) Wang Hui and Vice-Governor of the People’s Government of Guangdong Zhang Shaokang to discuss co-operation on construction works.
 

The Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Government and Guangdong’s Department of Housing & Urban-Rural Development signed a letter of intent on strengthening co-operation in construction and related engineering sectors.
 

Ms Linn said the letter will deepen bay area co-operation in the construction and engineering sectors, including through supporting the creation of a Guangdong-Hong Kong industry chain for the Modular Integrated Construction industry.
 

It will also support the joint formulation of bay area standards for technologies and products as well as joint personnel training in the construction and engineering sectors, she added.
 

Additionally, industry representatives from Guangdong and Hong Kong signed a number of agreements, including a memorandum of understanding between the University of Hong Kong and MOHURD’s Centre of Science & Technology Industrial Development, an agreement between the Construction Industry Council and training institutes in Guangdong, and a joint advocacy statement involving relevant associations, institutes and chambers of commerce from the two places.