SHENZHEN has been entrusted with more new tasks and opportunities in the country’s draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for national economic and social development that was submitted to the national legislature for deliberation.

The draft five-year outline has made a number of references to Shenzhen, specifying clearly that the Central authorities will support the construction of Shenzhen as a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Friday.

In the designated chapter for “promoting the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) in an active and prudent manner,” the draft outline maps out the key tasks, including strengthening the collaborative development of industry, academia and research, and improving the structural system related to two corridors, which refer to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao science and technology innovation corridors, and two poles, which refer to the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Loop area and Guangdong-Macao-Hengqin science and technology innovation center.

It also touches upon other tasks such as the construction of a comprehensive national science center and the cross-border flow of innovation factors.

Under the new five-year plan, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA will be in the forefront of leading China’s high-quality development by improving its capacity as an innovation engine and its capacity in the allocation of global resources.

In the chapter about the construction of major technology innovation platforms, the Central Government pledges that it will “support the formation of international technology innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA” and the construction of a “comprehensive national science center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA.”

In the past year, Shenzhen has accelerated the layout of major technology innovation resources in areas including Guangming Science City, Xili Lake International Science and Education City and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone in the Loop area. The number of innovation carriers in the city has reached 2,693, including 129 national-level carriers.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the city’s investment in research and development accounted for 4.93 percent of the GDP, reaching international levels.

To support Hong Kong and Macao to further integrate into the overall national development, the draft outline also highlights “high-quality construction of the GBA, deepening the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation, Pan-Pearl River Delta regional cooperation, and pushing forward the construction of major cooperation platforms in Qianhai, Hengqin, Nansha and the Loop area.”

The draft plan proposes to coordinate the construction of traditional and new infrastructure, and create a modern infrastructure system that is complete, efficient, intelligent, environmentally friendly, safe and reliable.

When it comes to the large-scale deployment of 5G network, the rail transportation network in the GBA, expansion of expressways and water diversion projects, Shenzhen was mentioned in the plan several times.

The draft also includes plans for the construction of the container terminal in the eastern section of Yantian Port and the expansion of Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport as part of the government’s strategy to build the GBA into a world-class seaport and airport cluster.

(Han Ximin)