Fujian and HK to work closer together: CE

Chief Executive John Lee said the signing of six memorandum of understandings between the SAR and Fujian governments would allow both sides to build closer ties and work together while grasping development opportunities under the nation's 15th Five-Year Plan. Leading a delegation to a high-level meeting of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Hong Kong-Fujian Co-operation Conference on Monday, Lee said both sides agreed that the economies of Fujian and Hong Kong were highly complementary and there was enormous potential for cooperation. "During this meeting, both sides will discuss 28 specific cooperation projects across 10 key areas. A total of six memorandum of understandings will be signed, covering trade and finance, cultural exchanges and tourism, youth development, as well as education," Lee said. "This shows that cooperation between Fujian and Hong Kong is becoming more comprehensive and high-quality," he added. Meanwhile, Secretary of the Communist Party of China's Fujian Provincial Committee, Zhou Zuyi, said the two regions should work together to serve the broader national strategy of opening up, by leveraging Fujian's role as a key frontier of reform and opening up, and Hong Kong's unique advantage of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. In terms of finance, efforts would be made to encourage more qualified Fujian enterprises to list on Hong Kong's stock exchange and issue bonds. High-quality private enterprises from Fujian would also join Hong Kong's GoGlobal delegations for overseas trade and business tours. Regarding cultural exchanges and tourism, support would be given to the adaptation and development of derivative products for films and intellectual property in Hong Kong while leveraging local tourism resources to create multi-destination itineraries. Other specific measures include continuing to offer platforms for youth exchanges between the two regions, and deepen the integration and collaboration of research information. Edited by Tony Sabine