This undated photo shows a panoramic view of the Xiangjiang River running through downtown Changsha, Hunan. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Hunan province and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have “unprecedented opportunities” for cooperation, and the two can create synergy in economy and trade as well as culture and tourism by leveraging their respective strengths and strengthening all-round exchanges, officials said.

As one of the regions with the highest level of openness and strongest economic vitality in the country, the Greater Bay Area is an important bridge for Hunan to open-up to the world and go global, said Yang Haodong, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and head of the publicity department.

Mao Weiming, governor of Hunan province, noted that Hunan is making every effort to build itself into a national center for advanced manufacturing, a center for science and technology innovation with core competitiveness, and a center for reform and opening-up

“Since the new era (began), relations between Hunan province and Guangdong province have become closer, economic and trade cooperation has strengthened. Cultural and tourism exchanges (between the two sides) are facing unprecedented opportunities,” he said at Hunan’s culture and tourism promotion event in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

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The event was hosted by Hunan Provincial People’s Government and organized by Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.

Zhang Hua, deputy mayor of Shenzhen, said Shenzhen’s four million people from Hunan province have made significant contributions to the city’s reform and innovative development.

“As industries in the eastern region transferred to central and western regions in recent years, an increasing number of Shenzhen enterprises are making investments in Hunan and have achieved fruitful results,” she said.

Hunan is an important source of tourists for Shenzhen with the two places connected by a sound transportation network, Zhang added. It takes around two hours to travel from Shenzhen to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan by high-speed railway and five to six hours by car.

A day earlier, the inland province in south-central China held the Hunan-Hong Kong-Macao Exchange Conference for Integrated Development in Hong Kong, marking its first major investment and economic activity outside Hunan since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delivering a speech at the culture and tourism promotion event after the exchange conference, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said Hunan and Hong Kong have maintained close contact in relation to the tourism industry, and have successfully organized a number of promotion and exchange activities.

“With high-speed railway between Hong Kong and Hunan cutting travel time to a few hours, I am confident that the two places will see vigorous development in tourism cooperation,” he said.

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Mao Weiming, governor of Hunan province, noted that Hunan is making every effort to build itself into a national center for advanced manufacturing, a center for science and technology innovation with core competitiveness, and a center for reform and opening-up.

Mao proposed deepening exchanges with Hong Kong and Macao in trade, finance and tourism, and achieving further win-win cooperation.

“It is important for the three sides to combine the advantages of Hunan’s advanced manufacturing industry with modern service industries of Hong Kong and Macao, accelerate the development of new business models, and jointly nurture new modes of industrial integration,” said Mao.

Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com