Li Jiachao met with the Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng in hopes of deepening scientific and technological innovation exchanges between Hong Kong and mainland universities.

China News Service, Hong Kong, November 2 (Xinhua) The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lee Ka-chiu, met with the Minister of Education, Huai Jinpeng, in Hong Kong on the 2nd to exchange views on deepening education cooperation. Li Jiachao said that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Universities Alliance, and the SAR government will continue to optimize the alliance mechanism between Hong Kong and mainland universities and deepen technological innovation and talent exchanges.

He introduced that Hong Kong has five of the world's top 100 universities, and its educational competitiveness ranks among the top in the world. The SAR government is making every effort to implement Hong Kong's first five-year plan to build Hong Kong into a gathering place for high-end international talents, and through the "Study in Hong Kong Special Class" to attract outstanding students from around the world to study in Hong Kong. Hong Kong will continue to leverage its unique advantages in connecting internally and externally under "one country, two systems" to promote international publicity and support institutions in holding recruitment activities in mainland China and overseas to further expand the pool of outstanding talents.

He pointed out that Hong Kong is developing the northern metropolitan area ("Northern Metropolis" for short) with speed and efficiency. With the university town as the main development line, Beidu brings together the five major elements of education, technology, industry, talent and urban construction to promote the coordinated development of "government, industry, academia, research and investment" and create an important strategic carrier for high-level post-secondary education, innovation and technology integration and the gathering of high-end talents. The SAR government will further cooperate with the Ministry of Education to promote more first-class mainland universities and scientific research institutions to settle in Beidu, bring together top academic and scientific research advantages with local universities in Hong Kong, promote the transformation of more innovative achievements, and achieve complementary advantages and mutual benefit and win-win results.

He mentioned that higher education exchanges and cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are close. Currently, eight University Grants Committee-funded universities in Hong Kong have established industry-university-research bases in Shenzhen, and four of them have set up schools in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. He is confident that with the support of the Ministry of Education, Hong Kong and the mainland will deepen cooperation in teacher training, digital education, patriotic education and other fields, and jointly contribute to the country's construction of an educational power.