The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, attended the Signing Ceremony of Hainan Hong Kong Memorandum of Cooperation in Boao, Hainan, today (March 26) and, together with the Secretary of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee, Mr Feng Fei, witnessed the signing of the Hainan Provincial People's Government and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSAR) Memorandum of Cooperation by the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, and Vice Governor of Hainan Provincial People's Government Mr Bateer.
Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR Mr Qi Bin also attended the signing ceremony. Officials of the HKSAR Government who also attended the conference included the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing; the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong; the Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Ms Carol Yip; and the Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Clement Woo.
Hong Kong and Hainan reached consensus on the following five co-operation areas:
Trade and Investment
Actively explore the expansion of in-depth co-operation in the areas of medicine, finance, commerce and trade, tourism and culture, and data services industries.
Leverage the role of the Hainan Free Trade Port in expanding the room for Hong Kong's development. Promote Hong Kong's better integration into the overall development of the country and leverage Hong Kong's distinctive advantages as a "super-connector".
Support Hong Kong enterprises in participating in the China International Consumer Products Expo and encourage Hainan enterprises and associations to organise and participate in trade fairs in Hong Kong.
Finance
Encourage enterprises from the Hainan Free Trade Port to issue bonds in Hong Kong and support high-quality enterprises from the Hainan Free Trade Port in listing in Hong Kong.
Safe and Orderly Flow of Data
Promote the safe and orderly flow of data between Hainan and Hong Kong, and jointly promote co-operation in data services between the two sides.
Tourism
Support the tourism industry of Hainan in commencing joint international marketing and develop products for multi-destination tourism with the travel trade and aviation sector of Hong Kong.
Talent Exchange
Pursue further opening up of more sectors of Hainan's services market to Hong Kong, including finance, legal services, accounting, consulting, convention and exhibition, architectural and planning, under the framework of the Agreement on Trade in Services of Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), with a view to expanding the scope for practice by Hong Kong's professional services sector while lifting the standard of internationalisation of Hainan's professional services sector.
Based on their Hong Kong professional qualifications, allow Hong Kong professionals with qualifications listed in the recognised Hong Kong professional qualifications directory to provide relevant professional services to enterprises and residents in the Hainan Free Trade Port, upon approval by the relevant authorities of the professional industries.
The document (Chinese only) is in the Annex.
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