China.org.cn | June 12, 2020
Hu Kaihong:
Thank you, Mr. Lin. I will now give the floor to Mr. Liu.
Liu Cigui:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, good morning. First, thank you for your interest in and support of Hainan's comprehensive deepening of reform and opening-up. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all the global investors and various sectors of society.
Building the Hainan FTP is an important national strategy designed, arranged and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping. It is a major measure to show that "the door of China's opening-up will not close, but will only open wider and wider." Hainan is the southernmost province of China. It has been supported by the CPC Central Committee and the country's people ever since it became a province and a special economic zone (SEZ) in 1988. On April 13, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at a conference celebrating the 30th anniversary of the island province and SEZ, announcing the decision to support developing Hainan into a pilot free trade zone and gradually into a free trade port with Chinese characteristics. Hainan was positioned as a pilot zone for comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up, a national demonstration area for the construction of ecological civilization, an international tourism and consumption center, and a zone offering services and support for the country's major strategies. During the past two years, we have pushed forward the high-standard construction of the FTZ in strict accordance with a series of important deployments by General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee. As such, the development of the FTZ has laid a solid foundation for the building of a free trade port.
We are adhering to high standards and high quality in building the pilot FTZ, and have identified 18 pivotal projects. Guided by the central government's "1+N" policy system, we have refined and promoted its implementation in accordance with the situation in Hainan. Over the past two years, we have laid a solid foundation for the coordinated development across the island in terms of constructing infrastructure for the "five networks" of optical network, power grid, gas network, road network and water network. We held a plenary session to study and implement the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping, during which an important decision was made to attract one million talents to Hainan. At the same time, we are planning to promote the Smart Hainan plan. The development of Hainan requires high standards, which means we should have a high starting point. With the support of the NDRC and other departments, the plan has already been approved by the central government.