Hong Kong Send Major Trade Delegation To Western China

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

21 May 2001

A 282-strong party of Hong Kong business-people from more than 70 companies yesterday began a 10-day tour of western parts of mainland China aimed at forging trade and business links between the SAR and the relatively undeveloped western regions of the PRC.

In Xian, on the first stop of the tour, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said he hoped the trip would enhance communication between western China and the SAR: "After months of preparation, I am glad that we can have such a large and high-powered delegation here. And we are glad that the leaders from the relevant departments of the central Government can join us to visit the west," Mr Tsang told local leaders during a reception.

China's Go West initiative was formally announced in Xian in 1999, with President Jiang Zemin saying China would accelerate the pace of development of its inland provinces in the coming decades.

The centerpiece of the tour will be a visit to Beijing, where the delegation will be joined by recently-appointed Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung - it will also be the first opportunity for him to meet China's leaders in Beijing. Members of the delegation will meet state leaders including Premier Zhu Rongji and leaders from nine provinces and cities in the west

Hong Kong companies on the Go West trip include: Jardine Matheson (China), hoping to finalise an urban water-supply contract in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province; John Swire & Sons (HK), interested in the distribution of foodstuffs and tourism; Chinachem Group, already in talks with Gansu province to develop vaccines and other bio-technological projects; and Kowloon-Canton Railway, whose chairman Yeung Kai-yin said the development of southwestern China was particularly important to growth of Hong Kong's port throughput.

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