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Party chief’s official overseas tour fruitful

Writer: Yang Mei  | Editor: Lily A  | From:  | Updated: 2018-06-27

Shenzhen’s Party Chief Wang Weizhong has led a Shenzhen delegation to London, Milan and several U.S. cities during a nine-day overseas tour, the first such tour since he was appointed the Party chief of Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC.

Wang made his first stop to London between June 11 and 12, during which he attended China (Shenzhen)-UK(London) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference on June 11 and conducted in-depth communication with Graham Stuart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Trade, Lord Sassoon, Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council and representatives of the member enterprises of the council. He also witnessed the two sides signing cooperative projects.

Wang delivered a keynote speech at the conference, in which he said thanks to the support of President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Theresa May, China and the U.K. has made significant progress towards building a global comprehensive strategic partnership in the 21st century. He mentioned that Shenzhen is a frontrunner of China’s reform and opening-up and has a great history with the U.K. in terms of exchanges and cooperation, adding that as China is introducing new measures to open its door wider to the outside world and with the rapid progress made in building Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a host of new opportunities are emerging and the potential for Shenzhen-U.K. exchanges and cooperation is tremendous. He hopes his visit can help to enhance pragmatic cooperation between Shenzhen and Britain in terms of trade, investment, innovation, finance and people-to-people exchanges, in a bid to achieve stronger complimentary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and to make greater contributions to the implementation of “Belt and Road” Initiative, the building of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and friendly relations between China and the U.K.

On June 12, Wang met with Charles Bowman, Lord Mayor of the City of London and the two witnessed the signing of a MOU between Shenzhen and the City of London.

Following the U.K., Wang started his two-day visit to Milan, Italy between June 13 and 14, aiming to deepen the pragmatic cooperation with the city in terms of innovative design, educational training, high-end conventions and exhibitions and cultural and tourism industries, to boost friendly bilateral relations and to better implement the important consensus reached by the heads of the two countries.

On June 13, Wang met with Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan and they witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between the two cities. Wang said with the two countries’ relations reaching a higher level, Shenzhen and Milan have been given great opportunities. He said that Milan is Europe’s central city of economy, a global city of fashion and a city with profound history and culture; therefore, Milan is a city that Shenzhen can learn from as the city is accelerating the development of cultural industries including innovative and creative designs. He hoped that the two cities can have pragmatic exchanges and cooperation in terms of cultural and creative industries, the exchanges and training for design talents and high-end conventions and exhibitions so as to make new contributions to the deepening of China-Italy comprehensive partnership. Sala said that Shenzhen is an important city for Milan’s foreign exchanges and cooperation with strong complimentary advantages. He hoped that the two sides can move faster to implement cooperation agreements and to achieve more in multi-industrial cooperation.

On June 13, Shenzhen “City of Design” Promotion Conference was held at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum, which was attended by Wang, China’s Consul General in Milan Song Xuefeng, Vice Mayor of Milan Cristina Tajani and member of Italian Parliament Marina Berlinghieri as well as 150 guests from Italy’s design and education sectors.

Wang said in his speech that Shenzhen is implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the CPC and attaches great importance to building “Shenzhen Design” and “Shenzhen Brand.” He hoped the two sides can cooperate with each other in talents cultivation, fashion and design and culture and tourism.

During Wang’s trip to Milan, he also paid visits to local universities and companies.

Wang concluded his overseas tour by visiting Boston, Silicon Valley and San Francisco in the U.S. between June 15 and 19, which aims to enhance pragmatic exchanges and cooperation with America’s local governments and to help move forward the sound relations between China and the U.S.

On June 18, Wang attended China Shenzhen - US Silicon Valley Investment Collaboration and Exchange Conference and met with representatives of renowned enterprises, experts and scholars. Wang delivered a speech and witnessed the signing of cooperative projects.

He said the conference will enhance pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and bring benefits to people of the two countries. He continued that Shenzhen, as a pioneer of China’s reform and opening-up, welcomes enterprises, start-ups, scientific and research institutes and professional service institutions from Silicon Valley, California and other cities to set up R&D centers and business headquarters in Shenzhen or to set up enterprises to enjoy the opportunities for development and to promote sound development of China-U.S. relations.

During his visit to Boston, Wang attended Shenzhen-Boston innovation and entrepreneurship cooperation meeting and exchanged views with professors, scholars and representatives of innovation institutes. Wang said Shenzhen has always been making innovation a leading strategy of the city’s development by respecting knowledge and talents, implementing the most stringent intellectual property protection measures and attracting talents from home and abroad. He said Shenzhen is trying to introduce more favorable policies for talents to give full play to their talents and create value.

During his visit to San Francisco, Wang met with John Grubbs, COO of San Francisco Bay Area Council. Wang said Shenzhen is a core city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and enjoys solid foundation and great potential for cooperation with San Francisco Bay Area. He hoped the two can exchange experiences on bay area construction and cooperate with each other in terms of science and technology and industrial investment. John Grubbs said San Francisco should play an active role in boosting bilateral regional cooperation and is willing to boost cooperation with Shenzhen and share experience in building bay area, so as to achieve mutual benefits and win-win cooperation and common development between San Francisco Bay Area and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Wang also inspected Shenzhen’s Overseas Innovation Center in Boston, attended the opening ceremony of Shenzhen Bay Silicon Valley Science, Technology and Innovation Center and witnessed the signing of MOU between Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences and Broad Institute and between South University of Science and Technology of China and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also held meetings with leaders of universities and met with leaders of local enterprises.