HK a crucial trade partner for E. China city

By Zhang Jun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-05-13 19:10

Tai’an in East China's Shandong province is getting popular among Hong Kong investors, said the city’s top official in the Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The city boasts unique geographical position and convenient traffic network by bordering Ji'nan, the provincial capital, Qufu, home of Confucius and Zibo, a famous industrial city.

“We have given priority in further opening-up and improving the tourism and cultural industries”, said Yang Luyu, Party secretary of Tai’an, in a press conference to promote the city's tourism.“We have created a competitive, stable and efficient development environment for investors.”

The city also developed high-tech industrial development zones and tourism & economic development zones to attract investment, he added.

Given Hong Kong’s special position as a world financial, trade and logistics hub and its robust economy, the city has staged a promotion fair in the SAR for a consecutive of three years.

The efforts paid off, Yang noted. “Hong Kong has been a major source of Tai’an’s overseas investment and its crucial overseas trading partner,” he said, adding that the mutual collaboration is on the rise.

The official figures show that Tai’an receives nearly 50,000 tourists from Hong Kong each year and more than 67 Hong Kong companies made new investment in the mainland city last year.