Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

FOREIGN and overseas Chinese experts who were invited to sit in on the Shenzhen legislature’s annual session are impressed with the city’s growth and feel confident of the city’s high-quality development in the near future.

John Speakman, a British professor working at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, said he was very impressed by the government work report delivered by Shenzhen Acting Mayor Qin Weizhong at the opening meeting of the First Session of the Seventh Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress on Saturday.

“I think the whole report was pretty impressive. This city is going to build more hospitals in the next five years than the whole of the country that I come from. I think investment and infrastructure like this makes a big difference to the well-being of the people that live in the city,” said Speakman, an expert in molecular energetics.

Horst Vogel, the chief scientist of the Research Center for Computer-aided Drug Discovery at SIAT, said the accomplishments made by Shenzhen over the past five years are very impressive and the plans proposed in the government work report are challenging but realistic.

“I think the city’s plans for the future are very aggressive. I believe when these goals are reached, it will be fantastic for the development of the whole city and the population of Shenzhen,” said Vogel.

Vogel said that he fully expects the development of science and technology in Shenzhen. “I’m really looking forward to Shenzhen’s plans in the future, because that is a big step forward to be a leading place for science and technology in the whole world. I’m pretty proud to be a part of that.”

According to Vogel, the talent pool in Shenzhen will give a push to the city’s development. Moreover, it will be a big plus for the city if it can offer international talents a good environment for scientific and technological research.

Leo Liu, an overseas Chinese expert from Canada and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, said the government work report is holistic, high-standard, comprehensive and pragmatic.

“In the work report, the major projects for economic and social development are mentioned in particular. There is a very detailed plan in areas such as investment market, finance, education and housing. I hope the goals can be achieved one by one with such strong guidance,” Liu said.