A delegation of foreign consular corps and business communities in Hong Kong see bright prospects in Shenzhen development during a tour to the city yesterday, expressing their expectations to deepen cooperation with the city.

Shenzhen was the first stop on the delegation’s tour of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) organized by the Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong. The delegation consists of about 100 representatives, including consuls general and business leaders, who will visit Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou and Zhuhai from Sunday to Thursday.

The aim of the trip is to help the delegates keep abreast of the GBA’s latest developments and seek business and investment opportunities.

The delegates’ Shenzhen tour started from the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, a testing ground for in-depth reform and higher-level opening up that has demonstrated robust development momentum driven by innovation. Since its establishment in 2010, Qianhai has transformed from a mud flat into a modern, highly developed commercial zone with 11,900 Hong Kong enterprises, official data showed.

The delegates said they were deeply impressed by Qianhai’s achievements.

Guy Bradley, chairman of John Swire & Sons (HK) Ltd., Swire Pacific Ltd. and Swire Properties Ltd., was struck by the city’s radical changes since his first visit 30 years ago. He said that he has high hopes on this GBA trip and looks forward to future opportunities for business collaborations with Shenzhen and other GBA cities.

The delegates also visited BYD, Tencent and Nanshan Energy Ecological Park.

Since the release of the outline development plan of the GBA four years ago, the GBA has created huge magnetic field effects, Liu Guangyuan, commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong, said at the launch ceremony of the tour in Hong Kong on Sunday.

As the travel between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao has been fully resumed, the development of the GBA is on a fast track, he said. During the process of Hong Kong’s integration into the national development, the GBA will add momentum and set a big stage for Hong Kong to achieve greater development.