The two-day event, held against the background of Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, invites bids for 12 Olympics-related venues and complementary infrastructure projects with a planned investment of 2.7 billion US dollars, said Zhang Mao, vice-mayor of Beijing.

Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Development Commission LiuZhi said, "This will be the first time for us to visit any place outside the Chinese mainland to publicize these Olympics-specific projects," adding that "The first five Beijing-Hong Kong symposiums were brilliant successes, as will be this one."

A seminar right after the symposium's opening ceremony provides delegates with progress report on the planning and construction of the sites and facilities for the 2008 games and on financing programs. Models and photographs of Beijing's Olympic Park and Wukesong Recreation and Sports Center are also on show at the symposium.

All together, a total of 261 projects worth 20.76 billion US dollars will be presented at the symposium, which is designed to further enhance the economic cooperation between Beijing and Hong Kong.

Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Antony Leung noted at the symposium that Beijing and Hong Kong each has its own individual advantages in terms of economic development, which would surely complement each other economically.

By the end of August this year, 6,491 Hong Kong enterprises had set up operations in Beijing. The contracted value of the projects totaled 16 billion US dollars, ranking the first among all countries and regions that invest in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2002)