Sichuan governor calls for deeper cooperation with Hong Kong

In the past two decades since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, with the strong support of the central government, Sichuan and Hong Kong has seen closer people-to-people ties and deepened exchanges and cooperation, said Yin Li, Governor of Sichuan, on Tuesday while attending an activity of the Sichuan-Hong Kong Cooperation Week.

Planned and advanced by the government, bilateral cooperation has attracted extensive participation and delivered win-win results, laying a more solid foundation, creating riper conditions and promising broader prospect for future development, said Yin.

Yin put forward a five-point proposal to?achieve deeper, broader and elevated bilateral cooperation.

First, Yin proposed the two sides to deepen cooperation on the development of the Belt and Road. He called for Sichuan and Hong Kong to jointly build aerial and land corridors for trade under the Belt and Road Initiative and pursue in-depth cooperation toward achieving zero tariff for trade in goods, expanding market access for trade in services and facilitating trade and investment. He also expected Hong Kong to increase import of Sichuan’s quality vegetables, meat products and other agricultural products and at the same time serve as a super link between Sichuan and the rest of the world, by way of, for example, helping it introduce overseas young talents and competitive enterprises, and sell more made-in-Sichuan products overseas.

Second, Yin proposed the two sides to deepen cooperation on the construction of China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Yin called for the two sides to work harder together in trade supervision, financial innovation, investment management, industrial capacity cooperation and customs clearance of goods. He said Sichuan will learn from the best practices of Hong Kong and innovatively reform its trade supervision system with a focus on facilitating trade.

Third, Yin called for the two sides to deepen cooperation on professional services with finance being a key area. Yin welcomed more of Hong Kong’s financial institutions to set up branches in Sichuan and expressed support for Sichuanese enterprises to go public, engage in international mergers and acquisitions and launch international operations in Hong Kong. He also hoped to see more service companies, especially those in logistics, accounting, consulting and law, settle in Sichuan.

Fourth, Yin called for the two sides to deepen cooperation on tourism, expressing support for Hong Kong enterprises to invest in tourism, sports and health industries in Sichuan. He expects their joint efforts to help Sichuan blossom into an important international tourist destination and Hong Kong into a super transfer station of international tourists for China.

Fifth, Yin called for the two sides to boost people to people and cultural exchanges. Specifically, they will carry out the Plan for Exchange of Young Talents, jointly protect the giant panda and strengthen cooperation in education, medical care, music and culture.