The first batch of 10 Hong Kong civil servants came to Shenzhen for three months, and Shenzhen and Hong Kong took the lead in launching the civil servant exchange and cooperation project.

The launching ceremony of "Guangdong-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Civil Servant Exchange and Cooperation Project" was held in Qianhai, Shenzhen on the 18th. The first batch of 10 Hong Kong civil servants will have a deep exchange for three months.

It is learnt that 10 middle and senior civil servants in Hong Kong come from eight departments and grades, including the Administrative Officer Grade, the Executive Officer Grade, the Environmental Protection Department, the Highways Department, the Innovation and Technology Commission, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the Planning Department and the Transport Department. The exchange personnel were sent to different government units in Futian and Qianhai, Shenzhen, respectively, to conduct in-depth exchanges in areas such as regional governance, scientific and technological development, urban planning, transportation and environmental protection.

It is reported that this exchange and cooperation project is the first civil servant exchange project between Hong Kong and the Mainland since the full resumption of customs clearance. It is an important measure to take the lead in implementing the Agreement on Civil Servant Exchange and Cooperation Project between Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong in September this year, and Shenzhen has also become the first stop for the civil servant exchange and cooperation project between Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong in the Mainland. According to the consensus between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the Hong Kong SAR Government will send 10 senior and middle-level civil servants from Hong Kong to relevant government departments and statutory bodies in Shenzhen for three months from mid-December 2023 to cooperate with the construction of major platforms for Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, such as Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone and Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, and participate in the work in the fields of ecological environment and transportation planning.

Observers believe that the exchanges between Shenzhen and Hong Kong have a deep foundation. With the continuous expansion of Greater Bay Area’s construction and Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation has moved from economic cooperation in the past to all-round cooperation and ushered in a new era of all-round acceleration and all-round promotion. In the field of public officials’ exchange, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have experienced cooperation from the working level of ecological environment and border policing to the normal and frequent exchange and docking under the mechanism of Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation special class. This exchange and cooperation has been broadened to the fields of scientific and technological innovation, ecological environment, urban planning and transportation planning, and the in-depth exchange and cooperation between civil servants of the two places will be strengthened in more fields in the future.