The Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone on Hengqin island in Zhuhai, Guangdong province announced new measures recently to reduce income taxes as a way to attract high-end talent to participate in the development process and share opportunities.

Under the new measures, which took effect on Tuesday, qualified people will get a 15 percent personal income tax discount when they settle down in the zone, which borders the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Fu Yongge, deputy director of the zone's executive committee, said the new measures aim to attract more high-end and scarce talent for the development of the zone's four pillar industries and help create a new engine for high-quality development in the years to come.

Li Ziwei, director of the economic development bureau of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone, said he has always regarded talent as a strategic resource to promote the diversified development of Macao's economy.

"The cooperation zone has continuously and actively improved the talent development environment, created a talent development platform and cooperated with Macao to implement the talent development plan since it was established," he said.

Located at the mouth of the Pearl River, the zone — a demonstration area of cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao — has listed its top priorities as the development of the biopharmaceutical and traditional Chinese medicine industries, along with the finance, culture and leisure tourism industries.