HAIKOU /China/, June 20. /TASS/. An international science and technology development center will be opened in the new The Jiangdong New District Advanced Innovation Development Zone in the Chinese city of Haikou (the administrative center of the southern province of Hainan). This was reported by the Xinhua News Agency.

According to the agency, the center will be founded by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development and Hainan Kaiwei Group. The two parties held a meeting in Haikou last week and signed a cooperation agreement under which they will invest in the establishment and operation of the international science and technology development center in Jiangdong. They will also create an incubation fund for entrepreneurship at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development in the region, according to the report.

In June 2018, the Hainan administration announced the creation of the new JJiangdong New District Advanced Innovation Development Zone near Meilan International Airport in Haikou City. Leading commercial and energy corporations and financial institutions, ranked among China's top 500 business organizations, have already started operating in its territory. This special zone, with an area of over 298 square kilometers, plays an important role in the formation of a free trade port in Hainan province.

June 1, 2020, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council of China published a program for the formation of a free trade port in Hainan. The document provides for the establishment of a special customs zone on this tropical island. The PRC authorities plan to complete the construction of the free port on the territory of the province in 2025, when the island should have a system of free trade and investment. By 2035, Hainan is expected to have free trade and investment, cross-border capital flows, travel, and freight transportation.