During the visit to China there was conducted a meeting of the Crimean delegation with the Secretary of the Government of Hong Kong Gregory So on trade and economic development issues.

 

   From the Crimean side the meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers - Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Crimea Ekaterina Yurchenko, Minister of Health Care of Crimea Igor Shpak, Deputy Minister of Resorts and Tourism of the autonomy Alexander Liev and others.

 

   Opening the meeting, Gregory Co noted that for the first 9 months of 2011 the growth of trade turnover between China and Ukraine amounted to 21.5% over the same period of the last year and expressed confidence that the visit of the Crimean delegation will facilitate continuation of this trend. "I think that our meeting can be considered as strengthening of relations between China, Ukraine and to be the start of cooperation of Crimea and Hong Kong. We are always happy to provide you with assistance in the further development of the region", - said Gregory So.

 

   Ekaterina Yurchenko said that according to the Strategy for socio-economic development of Crimea until 2020, one of the priorities for the autonomy’s government is to reform the health-resort complex and establish a modern agricultural sector. For modernization of the key sectors of the economy the management of the autonomy is actively involved in attracting investment. "We understand that fast growth and development of the region is not possible without investment. Therefore, our main task is to create favorable conditions for doing business in the autonomy and to promote the region in countries that could be potential investors", - said Deputy Prime Minister.

 

 

   Thus, the investment potential of Crimea was presented in London, Brussels, Vienna, the Baltics, Russia and Belarus. During the visit, the Crimean delegation presented Crimea at the largest Asian investment exhibitions and also reached agreements with investors on implementation of three major projects of the peninsula – transfer of transport capacities of Evpatoria trade port to the lake Donuzlav, development of the Yalta commercial seaport and the International airport "Simferopol". At the same time, Ekaterina Yurchenko said that currently, except for ports and airports, investment are needed for the infrastructure of Crimea, including railways and roads. "Your potential to invest is very large and our ability to accept investments meets it. The objective of the Crimean government is to support business at the state level, to create maximum comfort for the business that needs to be sure that investments will be protected and that capital will be working for the benefit of the territories. We are very interested in the experience of China in attracting investment, we are ready to learn in order to develop Crimea more intensively"- said Ekaterina Yurchenko.

 

 

   Gregory So noted that the SME in Hong Kong constitute 98% of all businesses, and 2% are owned by big business that is interested in cooperation with Crimea. He also added that it is perspective to open Crimean offices in Hong Kong, which will ensure bilateral cooperation and conclude the relevant contracts. "Hong Kong is a good place for business, and our business is interested in cooperation with the foreign business. In addition, Hong Kong and China signed the agreement on special economic relations so any company established in Hong Kong will enjoy favorable terms of this agreement and enter the Chinese market", - said Gregory So.

 

   In addition, the parties discussed cooperation in tourism and resorts, as well as the supply of the Crimean wines in China.