A view of Nansha Port Phase IV Project in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province photo: Qi Xijia/ GT

China's top economic planner announced on Tuesday to support Nansha district in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to offer 144-hour visa-free period for people transiting through the district and visa-free for cruise travel, as part of new policies to expand the district's market access to deepen comprehensive cooperation in the GBA and expand high-standard opening-up.

According to a circular issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Commerce Ministry and the State Administration for Market Regulation, Nansha is encouraged to participate in the formation and implementation of the technical standards for unmanned systems involving sea, land and air, and study technical specifications for integrating unmanned systems as part of ongoing urban construction.

It's also encouraged to deepen service trade innovations by actively introducing overseas professional talent from Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, establish a recognized list of overseas professional qualification certificates and release more policies that support cross-border working and lodging.

The district is encouraged to accelerate the development of specialty finance. The Guangzhou Futures Exchanges will expand the trading of more products in an orderly fashion to serve high-quality development of real economy, green and low-carbon development, GBA construction and the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to the document.

Meanwhile, authorities called for efforts to accelerate the development of GBA Cross-border Wealth and Asset Management Center in Nansha.

It said that a center for boosting the application of internationally advanced technologies will be established in Nansha to meet the needs of key projects. A set of technology application and evaluation standards will be developed. And new business models and capital cooperation models will be developed to promote key technology breakthroughs, and innovative application scenarios will be explored to boost market application of advanced technologies.

Officials also encourage Nansha to make breakthroughs in key technologies by cooperating with universities and research institutes in Hong Kong and Macao. They also support Nansha in further expanding market entrance opportunities in a number of sectors including seeds, pharmaceuticals and medical care.

They stressed cross-department supervision and the adoption of technologies to enhance the effective supervision to contain risks.