SANYA, September 21. /TASS/. Provinces and regions participating in the Pan-Pearl River Delta conference announced their intention to take part in the creation of Hainan's free trade port. According to the Hainan Daily, this decision was made during the meeting of the council of heads of regions of this interregional mechanism held in Sanya on Friday.

The current meeting was devoted to the development of cooperation with the Hainan province — "Construction of Hainan's free trade port — a common opportunity: promoting the joint development of the regions of the Pan-Pearl River Delta."

According to the newspaper, governors and representatives of people's congresses of the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as the heads of the administrations of Hong Kong and Macau attended the event. Hainan's Provincial Governor Shen Xiaoming chaired the current meeting.

The head of the Hainan government thanked his colleagues from other regions for their support in creating a free trade port in the region and for their proposals for cooperation.

"The creation of Hainan's free trade port is a national strategy and a common opportunity for the commonwealth of the Pan-Pearl River regions. We hope that the participants of this meeting will jointly explore all the opportunities presented to carry out various plans that will be concretized and implemented in projects," he said.

The forum's participants decided to hold the next meeting of the Council of Heads of Regions in 2021 in Sichuan province, and also announced that the 13th Forum of Interregional Cooperation and Development of the Pan-Pearl River Delta regions will be held online on September 24. 

The authorities presented a plan for the free trade port’s development on June, 1. In accordance with the plan, the Hainan province will be turned into a special customs zone. The country’s government intends in general to wrap up the creation of the free trade port on the island by 2025: by this time the island should acquire a system to ensure free trade and investments. 

By 2035, the free trade port and its model will become more solid. By this time, Hainan intends to ensure the freedom of trade and investments, trans-border movement of capital, people and shipping.