Hunan-Taiwan Cooperation Conference to begin in Changsha

The 14th Hunan-Taiwan Cooperation Conference on Economy and Trade will be held in Changsha from Oct 30 to Nov 1 to launch 59 preferential policy measures for Taiwan people.

The conference, sponsored by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council People's Republic of China and the Hunan Provincial People's Government, will invite more than 400 guests from political, industrial, technological, media, and other fields of Chinese mainland and Taiwan. They will carry out exchanges, discussion, and cooperation related to science and technology, youth, and culture.

The conference consists of an opening ceremony, three main activities: the Cross-Strait Cultural Exchange Forum, the Hunan-Taiwan Technology Exchange and Industry Cooperation Meeting, and the Hunan-Taiwan Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Communication Meeting, and two economic and trade cooperation conferences in Changde city and Yueyang city, Hunan province.

The achievements of Hunan-Taiwan exchange and cooperation over the past 30 years will be reviewed at the opening ceremony. The Hunan government will also issue the Hunan-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Exchange and Cooperation Opinions, which includes 59 preferential policies for Taiwan people involving economic and trade cooperation, technological innovation, employment and entrepreneurship, cultural exchanges, study, and daily life.

Xiao Xiangqing, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Hunan Provincial Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), said that the policies provide Taiwan people coming to study, work, start businesses, live, etc., with the same conveniences as Hunan residents. The 2018 Presidents Forum of Taiwan Associations will be held during the conference. A group of Taiwan businessmen from multiple arenas, including politics, business, science and technology, the press, etc., and representatives of Taiwan business and industry associations will attend the forum to discuss cooperation and promote economic and cultural development between Hunan province and Taiwan.

Hunan has become one of the most attractive provinces for Taiwan investment in Central China. The province has approved a total of 2,618 Taiwan-funded enterprises and projects, and has received 60 billion yuan ($8.67 billion) in investments. In the past eight months, 73 new Taiwan-funded projects were approved in the province, a year-on-year increase of 74 percent. The actual amount of Taiwan investment reached 3.935 billion yuan, an increase of 20.84 percent.