High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary Session of Hong Kong/Chongqing Co-operation Conference held in Chongqing (with photos/video)

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, and the Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Mr Yuan Jiajun, leading the delegations of the governments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and Chongqing respectively, held the High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Chongqing Co-operation Conference (the meeting-cum-plenary) in Chongqing today (May 11). Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council Mr Wang Linggui, also attended the meeting-cum-plenary. At the meeting-cum-plenary, both Hong Kong and Chongqing established a new co-operation mechanism and agreed on pursuing holistic co-operation to serve the country's high quality development. It is the first high-level government co-operation mechanism established by the HKSAR with the provinces and municipalities in the Mainland since the current-term Government has taken office.

Mr Lee said that the relationship between Hong Kong and Chongqing has always been very close. Under the overall blueprint of the country, both Chongqing and Hong Kong played important and unique roles. The country's 14th Five-Year Plan clearly supports Hong Kong to consolidate and enhance its competitive advantages and develop the "eight centres". Chongqing is the core city of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, and an important strategic link between the Belt and Road and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Hong Kong and Chongqing are complementary. Strengthening co-operation would definitely achieve complementarity and mutual benefits, and it also marks Hong Kong's better integration into the overall development of the country.

Hong Kong and Chongqing reached consensus on the following 11 co-operation areas:

The Belt and Road Initiative, Economic, Trade and Investment Co-operation
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Encourage enterprises from both sides to establish strategic partnerships, jointly open up markets along the Belt and Road, make good use of Hong Kong's professional service advantages, and encourage relevant units and enterprises in Chongqing to participate in the Mainland Enterprises Partnership Exchange and Interface Programme sharing session and the Belt and Road Summit.

Encourage Hong Kong chambers of commerce and enterprises to participate in the Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade held in Chongqing, promote Hong Kong's well-known brands, high-quality products and professional services to Chongqing, strengthen economic and trade promotion and exchanges between Chongqing and Hong Kong, and encourage Chongqing enterprises to develop business in Hong Kong and explore the international market.

Finance
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Encourage Hong Kong enterprises to establish or invest in financial institutions and financial intermediaries in Chongqing, build two-way investment and financing channels, and support more potential Chongqing enterprises to issue bonds and list in Hong Kong.

Explore the establishment of a working mechanism for the Hong Kong and Chongqing financial regulatory authorities, strengthen exchanges and co-operation between the HKEX and the Chongqing Share Transfer Center, and promote the sharing of investment and financing information, as well as financial exchanges and co-operation between the two sides.

Innovation and Technology
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Establish an exchange mechanism on science and technology between the governments of Hong Kong and Chongqing, support the two places to carry out international co-operation on science and technology in the fields of basic research and the application of technology, and encourage Hong Kong and Chongqing universities and scientific research institutions to have exchanges and co-operation in basic research, laboratory and the infrastructure of related scientific research facilities, scientific and technological resources, sharing of achievements, etc.

Strengthen scientific and cultural exchanges, and encourage higher education institutions, scientific research institutions and enterprises in the two places to jointly hold high-end academic conferences and forums.

Logistics
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Encourage Chongqing to make full use of the comprehensive advantages of Hong Kong and Macao international logistics distribution centres, promote the construction of Chongqing's inland international logistics hub and new highlight of port, encourage logistics and trade investment promotion, and pull in Hong Kong logistics, freight forwarding, supply chain finance enterprises, etc.

Cultural Exchange and Tourism
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Support various arts groups and institutions in Hong Kong and Chongqing to carry out exchanges and performances, further strengthen cultural exchanges in various fields such as arts talents, intangible cultural heritage, cultural relics, etc, and foster publicity and co-operation.

Support both sides in strengthening publicity and promotion in tourism, and encourage Chongqing to carry out tourism promotion and marketing activities in Hong Kong.

Education
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Strengthen exchanges and co-operation in the areas of talents training in higher education, teacher exchanges, academic research, etc, support elementary schools in the two places to strengthen exchanges and co-operation, and encourage pairing up of sister schools between the two places.

Support vocational schools, industries and enterprises in the two places to carry out joint training, school-enterprise co-operation, and support Hong Kong youths to participate in research and study activities, etc, in Chongqing.

Talent Exchange
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Under the co-ordination of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, continue promoting and deepening exchanges between civil servants of the two places, explore new forms of civil servant exchanges between the two places; select outstanding postdoctoral talents to carry out academic exchanges in Hong Kong, and promote the exchange of high-level scientific research talents from Chongqing and Hong Kong for internship exchanges, and research and academic visits.

Support the co-operation between the Chongqing Vocational College of Public Transportation and the Hong Kong MTR Academy to organise academic exchanges and training programmes to cultivate management and technical talents; deepen the co-operation between the Chongqing Airport Group and the Hong Kong International Aviation Academy to promote visits, exchanges and joint training of aviation talents.

Youth Development
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Promote exchanges between Hong Kong and Chongqing youths, enhance mutual understanding between youths of the two places, provide support for Hong Kong youths studying, taking internships and working in Chongqing, and provide Hong Kong youths with better opportunities for exchanges and internships.

Promote cultural exchanges and co-operation between youths of the two places, and foster exchanges between youths of the two places in natural history and cultural inheritance.

Legal and Dispute Resolution
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Support and promote the expansion of business co-operation between the legal service industries of the two places, support the docking and establishment of co-operative relationships between mediation institutions in Chongqing and Hong Kong, and promote the expansion of the platform for professional exchanges in legal and dispute resolution services between the two places.

Encourage the law associations in Hong Kong and Chongqing to enhance the training programmes for young lawyers in the two places; support the China Chongqing Arbitration Commission and Hong Kong arbitration institutions to jointly hold an arbitration summit.

Health and Chinese Medicine
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Promote regular exchanges on health between Hong Kong and Chongqing, support Hong Kong medical service providers to establish medical institutions in accordance with the law in Chongqing; support Hong Kong in hosting the Asia Summit on Global Health, organise relevant units and enterprises to participate, and jointly promote the development of Hong Kong and Chongqing as well as international medical and health exchange and co-operation.

Accelerate academic and talent exchanges of Chinese medicine between the two places, and strengthen co-operation in the field of international standardisation of Chinese medicine.

Facilitation for Hong Kong People in the Mainland
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Chongqing fully implements the policies and measures introduced by the relevant Central Government departments to facilitate the development of Hong Kong and Macao residents in the Mainland, and explore the establishment of a "one-stop" consulting service platform for Hong Kong residents in Chongqing to address enquiries on various facilitation policies and measures.

Establish a regular communication mechanism to collect views and suggestions from Hong Kong people in Chongqing. Support the work of Hong Kong institutions in Chongqing, and strengthen the exchange and sharing of policy information.

Co-operation Memorandum Signing Ceremony
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At the meeting, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, and Vice Mayor of Chongqing Municipal People's Government Ms Zhang Guozhi, signed the "Hong Kong/Chongqing Co-operation Conference Mechanism" and the "Co-operation Memorandum of the High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Chongqing Co-operation Conference". The documents (Chinese only) are at Annex 1 and Annex 2 respectively.

ã€€ã€€In addition, two co-operation agreements were signed by government departments and statutory bodies of the two places:

"Strategic Co-operation Memorandum between Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce and Hong Kong Trade Development Council"; and
"Co-operation Memorandum on Innovation and Technology between Hong Kong and Chongqing".

The "Co-operation Memorandum on Innovation and Technology between Hong Kong and Chongqing" (Chinese only) signed by government departments of the two places is at Annex 3.

Officials of the HKSAR Government accompanying the Chief Executive to attend the meeting-cum-plenary include the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau; the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong; the Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Clement Woo, etc.