Chinese mainland, Hong Kong held seminar on economic cooperation

Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland have great potential for economic cooperation and economists from the two sides should engage more in relevant research, said Wang Zhongyu, vice chairman of China's top political advisory body, here Wednesday.

Several policies raised at the central economic conference in Beijing were relevant to pushing forward economic ties between Hong Kong and the mainland, said Wang, vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, at a seminar held here from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The central government encouraged overseas investors to engage in restructuring state-owned enterprises. It stressed multilateral, regional trade and economic cooperation, which are relevant to economic ties between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, he said.

The three-day central economic conference, attended by all nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, had just closed in Beijing Sunday, summing up the economic situation this year and planned for economic work in 2005.

There are still many problems in joining up the two places that needs economists to research and work out solutions, he said.

About 50 economists from Hong Kong and Chinese mainland discussed problems such as smoothing trade and investment between the two sides, integrating service sectors, promoting cooperation between colleges, speeding up economic integration of the Pearl River Delta and cooperation among Hong Kong, Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta.

Source: Xinhua