上天堂下杭,蘇 (above is heaven below are Hangzhou, Suzhou) goes the old saying about two remarkably beautiful cities in the Yangtze Delta. And this week in Hong Kong, the focus has been on Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, and the province as a whole.
Positioned just south of the Yangtze Delta and home to e-commerce giant Alibaba, Hangzhou and Zhejiang at large have long been sources of trade investment for Hong Kong, a status celebrated by the Hong Kong & Macao – Zhejiang Week & Zhejiang and Hong Kong Cooperation Theme Forum.
Cooperation agreements
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Mr John Lee, addressed the Opening Ceremony for the week, while he and Secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Mr Yi Lianhong, witnessed the signing of a number of co-operation agreements between Zhejiang and Hong Kong to promote complementary and mutually beneficial high-quality development.
Mr Lee said that under the overall layout of the country, both Zhejiang and Hong Kong played important and unique roles. Zhejiang had huge development potential and was an important province in the Yangtze River Delta. Hong Kong was a promoter of domestic and international dual cycles and possesses the unique advantage of One Country, Two Systems. Through strengthening co-operation further, both sides would definitely achieve complementarity and mutual benefits and jointly contribute to the development of the country.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council Chairman Dr Peter K N Lam told the forum: “Many Zhejiang enterprises have already been listed in Hong Kong in recent years, raising high-quality capital from international investors and entering the global market successfully via the city.”
At the meeting, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, and Vice Governor of Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, Mr Lu Shan, signed the Co-operation Agreement between the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province to jointly promote high-quality development.
In addition, three co-operation agreements were signed by government departments and an organisation of the two places:
Co-operation Memorandum between Department of Education of the People's Government of Zhejiang Province and Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
Co-operation Memorandum between Department of Commerce of the People's Government of Zhejiang Province and InvestHK of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; and
Co-operation Memorandum between Hangzhou Municipal People's Government and The Hong Kong Jockey Club on the development of equine sports.
Focal areas
Hong Kong and Zhejiang reached consensus on 12 mutual co-operation areas.
These included finance, with Zhejiang enterprises encouraged to continue to use different financing channels in Hong Kong's financial market, including listing in Hong Kong, issuing bonds, and using Hong Kong's financial services to “go global”, as well as promote Hong Kong's green and sustainable finance grant scheme.
The other cooperation fields were Innovation and Technology, Trade and Investment, Aviation, Education, Youth Exchange, Culture and Tourism, Exchange of Talents and Civil Servants, Health, Hygiene and Chinese Medicine, Environmental Protection, Facilitation for Hong Kong People in the Mainland as well as Legal and Dispute Resolution.
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