HONG KONG -- Hong Kong has witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on tax cooperation within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) at an ongoing three-day forum held by the city.

The MoU was inked on Tuesday among the finance and taxation departments of Guangdong province, Shenzhen municipality, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Macao SAR on the sidelines of the Fifth Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum, which opened on Tuesday.

Its signing, witnessed by HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee and Commissioner of the State Taxation Administration Hu Jinglin, was expected to provide a framework basis for the coordination of tax administration and services within the GBA and pave the way for the area's integrated development.

Wang Daoshu, deputy commissioner of the State Taxation Administration, believed that the signing of the MoU will help further promote the deepening of tax exchanges and cooperation between Hong Kong and Macao and the Chinese mainland, and provide more powerful tax support for facilitating trade and investment, so as to better serve the country's high-level opening-up.

Established in 2019, the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism is a non-profit official mechanism for the discussion on tax administration cooperation among countries and regions along the Belt and Road. This is the first time that Hong Kong is hosting the forum.