Just as Fuzhou - the capital city of Fujian province - is eyeing further cooperation with Hong Kong's business community, so too is Longyan.

Figures from Longyan, which is located in the west of Fujian province, show that Hong Kong accounts for around 60 percent of Longyan's imports and exports. The city is already tied to Hong Kong economically.

During the Fujian delegation's three-day visit in Hong Kong, a total of 39 contracts were signed between Hong Kong companies and representatives from Longyan. Of the contracts signed, 25 are for investment projects amounting to $1.04 billion, while the remaining 14 are cooperative projects.

The past few years have seen "increasing economic and trade cooperation between Longyan and Hong Kong", Zhang Jian, party secretary of Longyan, noted. According to Zhang, 60 percent of overseas investment in Longyan comes from Hong Kong companies.

Since 2007, "over 150 Hong Kong companies have come and invested in Longyan", Zhang said.

The 39 projects the two sides have agreed to jointly work on involve a wide range of sectors, spanning the manufacturing, financial and tourism sectors. One of the projects is to build a sports center with a total investment of $60 million.

Zhang said the cooperation between Hong Kong and Longyan creates several opportunities.

To start with, Hong Kong's business community will find "new investment opportunities" as Longyan expects to invest a total of 670 billion yuan in some 980 projects during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, Zhang reckoned.

Development of the modern services industry will be a top priority for the period, according to Zhang, who sees great room for further cooperation between the two cities in modern services projects with the expertise Hong Kong has accumulated in this area.

Still, Zhang is hoping that talent exchanges will be carried out more frequently between the two sides.

"Hong Kong has very good human resources. Stepping up talent exchanges between Hong Kong and Longyan will unleash huge potential," said Zhang.

China Daily

(HK Edition 03/31/2011 page3)