Hainan and Hong Kong to join forces in promoting economic cooperation – media

South China's Hainan province and China's Hong Kong special administrative region will join efforts to promote cooperation in the economic and cultural and humanitarian fields. This was reported by the Hainan Daily newspaper.

Hainan and Hong Kong "are paving a 'fast lane' of cooperation in all directions, showing maximum aspiration and strength," according to an editorial in the newspaper. For more productive and open interaction, the two sides "form an optimal atmosphere and jointly seize new favorable opportunities."

The article notes that Hainan began resuming flights to Hong Kong, which were interrupted by the pandemic, back in November of last year. Regular passenger traffic from the Meilan International Airport has boosted trade and economic contacts, becoming an important factor for increasing interaction with this special administrative region. According to official calculations, in the past three months there were about 90 flights on this route, which were used by more than 10.2 thousand people.

Hong Kong was also visited by a Hainan government delegation last December. It held a series of talks aimed at stepping up investment cooperation. During this trip agreements were signed on implementation of important joint projects.

Key areas of cooperation with Hong Kong

According to the publication, the financial sector, knowledge-intensive and high-tech industries, consumption and tourism, and jewelry have recently become key areas for cooperation between Hainan and Hong Kong. An increasingly important role in cooperation with this special administrative region is played by the city of Sanya, which actively attracts Hong Kong investors to implement major infrastructure projects.

Moreover, Haikou, the administrative center of Hainan, with the participation of Hong Kong, is actively building a number of economic facilities in the joint demonstration zone of cooperation. It is expected that this will allow to intensively promote cooperation in all these priority areas.

Hainan and Hong Kong are engaged in attracting both financial resources and advanced technologies and highly qualified personnel to successfully carry out joint tasks. Great attention is paid to the effective distribution of information. Given the ongoing participation of several competent agencies, this allows to revitalize the program of pragmatic cooperation, to ensure its implementation at a high-quality level.

It is expected that Hainan will be able to adopt a lot of valuable experience from Hong Kong's trade and economic development in the process of such cooperation. In addition, the province will be able to introduce more effective mechanisms in medicine and education. The newspaper notes that all these changes will be accompanied by a dynamic deepening of contacts at all levels.

Hainan maintains close ties with the Hong Kong business community, which plays a particularly important role in the province's economic development. Since 2018, when Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the establishment of an experimental free trade zone and port on the island, more than 2,000 companies with Hong Kong capital have emerged on the island. Allocated investment amounted to $9.77 billion during the corresponding period, more than 76% of the corresponding total for countries and regions that have invested in the Hainan economy.