Differentiation needed
Qianhai isn't the only economic development zone in the country that enjoys favorable policies. The State Council in June initiated a new development plan for Guangzhou's Nansha district - another key area for Guangdong-Hong Kong cooperation.

Although the plan came almost a year after Qianhai's, the Nansha model proposes a similar format for the legal sector, and the first batch of GBA lawyers' licenses in Guangdong province was issued to lawyers in Nansha.

Hong Kong and Macao residents working in the district will also be eligible for partial exemption from personal income taxes that exceed those in the two SARs. This is one of Qianhai's most-significant and pragmatic preferential policies to attract Hong Kong professionals, but now it is no longer an attraction unique to Qianhai.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), meanwhile, officially started its first semester this month. The institution is expected to act as a bridge for in-depth scientific cooperation with local governments and firms.

"Competition is common among economically developed areas, including top-level design and preferential policies," says Eddie Yan, a partner in government and public services and leader of the Free Trade Zone Services Center at Deloitte China. Facing these challenges, the Qianhai zone should concentrate more on the modern-services sector, such as research and development, the digital economy and modern logistics, and should have more "differentiation advantages with Qianhai characteristics", he said.

"It's also necessary to explore further possibilities of linking up the different cross-border mechanisms and taking the lead in providing a wider and closer integration method," Yan says. "Many of the measures launched in the first year of the Qianhai plan are aimed at breaking down barriers. The 'Qianhai 2.0' era is now taking shape, with more and more sharing and connecting platforms established recently. These platforms have laid a solid foundation for an interconnected Qianhai 3.0."