Forum opens with pledge for closer ties

Li Shixiang, the executive vice-mayor of Beijing, has pledged to deepen the capital city's economic and social cooperation with Hong Kong, highlighting the service industry and technological innovation as pivotal areas.

Speaking on Friday at the opening ceremony of the 19th Beijing Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium, Li said Beijing's economy is dominated by the service industry, which accounts for 80.7 percent of its GDP.

"Hong Kong has a mature service industry, too, and in the future I expect the two cities to work even closer together in pushing modern industries such as finance, insurance, logistics and trade to a higher level," Li said.

Also at the opening, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said Beijing's service industry is developing robustly.

"Complementary collaboration between Hong Kong and Beijing will create a lot more opportunities for the ongoing development of both cities."

Yu Debin, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Tourism Development, underlined, too, that the cities' tourist sectors share the benefits of having both rich, traditional cultural sites and very modern attractions.

Yu said this "colorful new Beijing" will be "promoted strongly" to Hong Kong tourists.

First held in 1997, the cooperation symposium provides a platform for private and public sector organizations from both places to explore joint business opportunities and ways of attracting investment in either direction.

To strengthen cooperation in the service industry, Li said Beijing will accelerate its number of collaborative projects with the Special Administrative Region, with an emphasis on the technology industry.

Innovation will remain the key driver of all future development, Li said, as Beijing continues in its effort to become one of the world's leading centers of cutting-edge technology.

(China Daily 11/28/2015 page7)