HAIKOU /China/, December 16. /TASS/. The southern Chinese province of Hainan is playing an increasingly important role in international production and distribution chains, Hainan Ribao reported.
According to the newspaper, cooperation between China's southernmost region and other countries is developing dynamically thanks to numerous preferences and incentives. The island is also developing increasingly close economic ties with neighboring provinces and special administrative regions, as well as major cities in northern, central, and eastern China. The authors of the article call this integration a "promising prevailing trend." The new customs regime that Hainan will adopt on December 18 is expected to play a pivotal role in this process.
The newspaper also pointed out that the province's authorities and business leaders frequently receive delegations from different regions of China to negotiate agreements that strengthen cooperation. As these ties strengthen, cooperation in the transport sector is expanding as well. In addition to increasing maritime transport volume, new formats are being introduced, such as the high-speed delivery of goods from Hainan to Guangdong Province via drone.
An increasing number of projects involving Hainan aim to strengthen interregional industrial cooperation, particularly in pharmaceutical production. Thanks to efficient resource management and reliable supply chains, the price of some pharmaceuticals is significantly reduced, sometimes by as much as tenfold, after localization in the province compared to imported counterparts.
Another area of international and interregional cooperation that Hainan companies are successfully promoting is breeding and seed production. With the support of China’s Industry and Information Technology Ministry, cooperation in smart technology is growing. Enterprises are introducing modern equipment and advanced engineering developments for high-tech food processing, for example. Particular attention is paid to digitalization and developing advanced, innovative areas.
Hainan Ribao also noted that all of the abovementioned and many other promising areas of cooperation require the recruitment of highly qualified manpower in dozens of sought-after professions. Thus, economic interaction in the Hainan Free Trade Port stimulates cultural, humanitarian, and interpersonal contact, enabling the island to develop an industrial base and an advanced system of modern services in high demand in foreign markets.