Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

SHENZHEN will marshal full resources of the city to widen Qianhai’s opening up and take the cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong to a new level, said Shenzhen Mayor Qin Weizhong via video link at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office on Thursday in Beijing.

The news conference was held days after the central authorities issued two separate plans for building Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone and for further developing the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation zone. The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone’s total area will be expanded to 120.56 square kilometers from 14.92 square kilometers, according to the plan.

Qin said Shenzhen will compile an overall development plan and an urban spatial plan for the Qianhai cooperation zone in a bid to fully utilize the new areas after the expansion. A third of the newly added land for industrial use will be reserved for Hong Kong-based and invested enterprises.

The city will deliver the new policy’s benefits, bringing into full play its multiplier effect and making sure the industrial, financial and legal policies cover the whole zone.

It will also deepen its Hong Kong collaboration in more fields such as modern finance, technology innovation, exhibition economy, marine economy and professional services.

To build a market-oriented and ruled-by-law international business environment, the city will promulgate investor protection regulations and join hands with Hong Kong to build an international legal service center and international commercial dispute resolution center.

Qianhai, as one of the regions on the Chinese mainland that are most closely connected with Hong Kong, has yielded positive results in cross-border cooperation, the mayor said.

The two cities have reached consensus on many issues at the 2021 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Conference, which was held in Shenzhen on Monday.

According to the mayor, Qianhai has so far attracted a batch of modern service enterprises from Hong Kong. A total of 11,500 Hong Kong-invested companies have been registered in Qianhai.

In addition, a slew of measures have been released to facilitate Hong Kong people working and living in Qianhai.

Also at the conference, Lin Keqing, executive vice governor of Guangdong, said the province will join hands with Hong Kong and Macao to fully realize the new blueprints formulated for Guangdong-Macao and Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation zones.

Two leading groups led by top provincial leaders will be established to boost Macao’s appropriate economic diversification and promote Qianhai’s reform and opening up after the expansion, according to Lin.