China News Service, Beijing, November 4 (Reporters Zhang Xiaoxi, Lu Shaowei, Chen Jianxin) The 29th Beijing-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Seminar (referred to as the "Beijing-Hong Kong Forum") with the theme of "Sail the 15th Five-Year Plan for a Shared Future between Beijing and Hong Kong" opened in Beijing on the 4th. More than 800 people including representatives from government departments, business associations, financial institutions, enterprises and university scientific research institutions of the two places attended.
Since the Beijing-Hong Kong Fair was held in 1997, it has become an important platform for economic and trade exchanges and cooperation between the two places. This year is the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and the year when Hong Kong's first five-year plan is released. Participants focused on financial services, technological innovation, digital economy, consumer trade and other fields to jointly draw a development blueprint.
Xu Qifang, deputy director in charge of daily work of the Central Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. He said that he would fully support Hong Kong and Beijing in deepening practical cooperation in various fields, promote the two-way empowerment of Beijing's "15th Five-Year Plan" and Hong Kong's first five-year plan, and jointly make new and greater contributions to the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation.
At the opening ceremony, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Lee Ka-chiu proposed three key directions for further strengthening cooperation and seeking common development between Beijing and Hong Kong in the future. The first is to promote the two-way opening up of finance and inject vigorous momentum into economic transformation; the second is to deepen the linkage between Beijing and Hong Kong in science and technology and jointly build a high-end gathering place for international high-end talents; the third is to make good use of Hong Kong's role as "super contact" and "super value-added person" to fully empower enterprises to go overseas.
Li Jiachao said that Hong Kong will continue to actively serve the needs of the country, work hand in hand with Beijing, and transform the fruitful results of Beijing-Hong Kong cooperation into new driving forces for high-quality development.
Beijing Mayor Yin Yong said at the opening ceremony that cooperation between Beijing and Hong Kong has provided important assistance to Beijing's development. In recent years, the integrated development of the two places has yielded fruitful results, and exchanges and mutual learning have become closer. Hong Kong has firmly ranked first as a source of foreign investment and a destination for foreign investment in Beijing. Looking to the future, we look forward to Beijing and Hong Kong joining hands to jointly promote the high-quality development of the two places to a new level, including further improving cooperation mechanisms, deepening enterprise linkage, promoting enterprises to go overseas, and intensifying people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
This fair will last for two days, with three important activities including an opening ceremony, theme promotion and "Beijing-Hong Kong Night", 14 special events, and investment consultation and negotiation activities throughout the duration of the fair.
