The "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035" (the 14th Five-Year Plan) adopted by the National People's Congress on 11 March 2021 is the blueprint and action agenda for the social and economic development of the country in the next five years. In its Chapter 61 which is dedicated to Hong Kong and Macau, express support has been given for developing Hong Kong into a regional intellectual property (IP) trading centre.

See reference materials here.

This is an escalation of the initiative which was first mentioned in the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA)" promulgated by the Central Government in February 2019, as a national strategy covering nine cities in the Guangdong Province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, as well as the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao.

See the dedicated website here.

We will continue to co-operate closely with the Mainland authorities and implement measures to promote IP trading and professional services in the GBA by leveraging the advantages of Hong Kong in IP protection and related professional services.

For more information, please refer to the following linked documents:
16 Co-operation Measures for the Development of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Intellectual Property and Innovation Hub by the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen Municipality and the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

• Press Release - CEDB and Qianhai Authority jointly promulgate 16 measures for promoting development of intellectual property and innovation in Hong Kong and Qianhai-Shenzhen
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