All news
6 Jun 2019, 18:00

‘The Island of Hainan: A pilot free trade zone’ project launched at SPIEF

TASS Deputy Director General Andrei Sokolov noted that the project would be interesting not only for tourists, but also for businessmen

ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. TASS special project dubbed ‘The Island of Hainan: A pilot free trade zone’ has been launched today on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The launch is a part of a joint initiative of the information agency and the Hainan Province’s Party Committee Propaganda Department, devoted to the Chinese island’s potential.

"We have signed a cooperation agreement on the launch of the Hainan project on our agency’s website", Andrei Sokolov announced. 

"The project will be interesting not only for tourists but also for business community; it will contain a wide range of topics considering the free trade zone on the Island of Hainan, capital flows regulation specifics, Hainan’s labor market, all of the initiatives that are being implemented in the province", he added. 

In turn, Sun Dahai, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee, said that for the Chinese province "it is a great honor to hold the launch ceremony of this special project within the SPIEF framework". 

"We have come a long way together in order for the world to learn about our island more. It will also boost international cooperation and Hainan’s practical coordination with the regions of the world», the Chinese official stressed. 

‘The Land of Promise’ 

TASS special project ‘The Island of Hainan: A pilot free trade zone’ is launched both in Russian and in English. 

According to the Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee Wu Bin, who was present at the ceremony,  "the project is divided into seven main sections", including information about the Hainan free trade zone, cultural and humanitarian relations, the cities of the island, healthcare and education, tourism, environment  - the diversity of flora and fauna ".

"Another section will be devoted to the news", the official stressed. "Every day two Hainan-related pieces of news will be published on the website".  

Marat Abdulkhatin, First Deputy Chief Editor at TASS, said that "launching the project while Xi Jinping is on a second day of his official visit in Russia is especially symbolic".  

"I think that the launch is a worthy gift related both to this visit and to everyone present at the forum. But most importantly, it is a gift fit to mark two great anniversaries celebrated this year - the 70th anniversary of Russian-Chinese diplomatic relations and the 70th anniversary of founding of the People’s Republic of China". 

The 2019 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held on June 6-8. The forum’s motto this year is “Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda”. The organizer for SPIEF-2019 is the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is a media partner, the official photo hosting agency and the operator of SPIEF’s presentation zones with support from multinational firm EY, and the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia.​