Jiangxi increases economic cooperation with Hong Kong firms

Jiangxi — a province on the southern mainland with a rich historical and cultural heritage — is exploring new opportunities for cooperation with l eading Hong Kong enterprises.

At the 16 th Jiangxi-Hong Kong economic and trade cooperation forum on Thursday, Jiangxi signed 105 projects with Hong Kong enterprises from the aviation, tourism and logistics sectors. The total value of these ventures is $10.58 billion.

Jiangxi Governor Liu Qi said the forum aimed to implement the spirit of the Belt and Road Initia- tive — taking full advantage of Hong Kong’s role as a super-connector to enhance communication with Belt and Road countries.

“Jiangxi wants to exploit new business opportunities together with Hong Kong companies in three areas,” Liu told the forum.

“The first is to expand into Belt and Road countries. As Hong Kong is a bridgehead for mainland enterprises to go out, companies from both sides could work together to undertake construction projects in Belt and Road countries,’’ Liu added.

The governor said the second area is financial cooperation. A number of companies from Jiangxi seek to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, he revealed. And Liu hopes in the future more Hong Kong financial companies would also set up offices in Jiangxi to conduct business.

“The third is to enhance the talents exchange program for Hong Kong and Jiangxi. We welcome talents from Hong Kong to start business in our beautiful province,” Liu said.

Jiangxi is striving to build a 100 billion yuan ($14.72 billion) aviation industry, with an emphasis on aviation education, aviation property as well as aeronautical information services.

At the same time, the province plans to continue to develop its tourism, industrial design, mod- billion ern logistics, finance and creativity industries.

To attract investment, Jiangxi introduced 100 policies to cut costs for companies and optimize the business environment. It also set up a 100 billion yuan development fund to support economic development.

“Jiangxi is a beautiful province with a strong growth momentum,” said Margaret Fong Shun-man, executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). Jiangxi has long been famous for its porcelain.

Fong said Hong Kong companies with t heir rich financing experience can act as good partners or super-connectors in doing business with Jiangxi.

The province’s GDP grew 9 percent l ast year, higher than the national GDP growth rate, and its growth momentum remained at 9 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Statistics from the HKTDC show that Hong Kong is the l argest source of foreign direct i nvestment in Jiangxi.

In 2015, Hong Kong investors signed 510 contracts with $6.05 billion contracted investment — accounting f or 82.2 percent of overseas investment there. Utilized investment from Hong Kong amounted to $7.59 billion in 2015, representing 80 percent of total utilized overseas investment.

total value of contracted investment in Jiangxi province from Hong Kong companies share of contracted investment in Jiangxi from Hong Kong companies in total investment in the province from overseas