The Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao held a Symposium on Enhancing the Cooperation in Logistics under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (hereinafter referred to as CEPA) & the 7th Foshan (International) Logistics Cooperation Symposium in Foshan, Guangdong province. Vice Commerce Minister Jiang Yaoping, Vice Governor of Guangdong province Wan Qingliang, and Party Secretary and Mayor of Foshan Chen Yunxian attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches respectively.

Jiang pointed out that since the CEPA taking effect 7 years ago, various measures had been carried out very well with the joint efforts of all walks of life from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. Facilitation of trade and investment has been further intensified. Particularly, the cooperation in logistics has presently been the most outstanding one under CEPA. Nearly 1,600 service providers from HK and Macao are engaged in forwarder, storage, transportation and other logistics services. It is not only beneficial for consolidating the status of HK as international trade and freight center and moderately diversified development of Macao economy, but also boosts the improvement the logistics of Chinese mainland. The CEPA accelerated the convenient flow of capital, goods and labor among the mainland, HK and Macao, and played an active role in the opening-up of the mainland, the economic development of Macao and HK, and the mutual trade and economic cooperation.

Jiang stressed that currently, the world economy began to recover. However, to realize the overall recovery still faced with lots of difficulties. Given the new situation of jointly coping with the financial crisis, it is more significant to fully implement CEPA. So we have to continue researching specific and effective measures on implementing CEPA, making inspection, review and evaluation, and enhance the publicity and promotion so as to bring the CEPA into full play and boost the in-depth cooperation in logistics of Chinese mainland, HK and Macao.

At the symposium, representatives from relevant government departments and business communities from the mainland, HK and Macao discussed on the subject of “bringing the CEPA into full play and boosting the in-depth cooperation in logistics of mainland, HK and Macao”.

During the symposium, the logistics enterprises from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao held matchmaking talks on particular cooperation projects and consequently, representatives of 46 modern logistics demonstration cities nationwide in modern circulation and their counterparts of logistics enterprises in such three regions have preliminarily established the relations of cooperation. Eighty projects were signed, covering the construction and cooperation of logistics facilities, logistics outsourcing cooperation, exhibitions, service cooperation in trade and commercial circulation, innovation and design cooperation, tourism and catering investment and cooperation, and urban renewal, with the total investment of RMB32.379 billion. The number of projects which are over RMB100 million is 67, with the total value of RMB31.603 billion.

This two-day symposium was sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, undertaken by the People’s Government of Foshan, the Economic & Information Commission of Guangdong Province, the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Guangdong Province, China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, and co-sponsored by HK Trade Development Council and Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. More than 1000 representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, Guangdong, and 46 nationwide modern logistics demonstration cities in modern circulation, relevant industrial associations, business communities and enterprises from the Mainland, HK and Macao, participated in the above activities.