_News Center_China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT)

The topic of how to build up a better vision of the Western Straits Economic Zone has been heatedly discussed among the city mayors, government officials, economic experts and entrepreneurs in attendance at the Shanghai Expo Fujian Special Forum in Xiamen.
The forum was organized by the Executing Committee of the Shanghai Expo along with the Fujian provincial government to highlight the ongoing China International Fair For Investment and Trade. It centers on an innovative cooperation system and the sustainable development of the cities within the Western Straits Economic Zone, using the fair and the upcoming Shanghai Expo in 2010 as mediums for its goals.
The speeches and discussions looked to the theme of the Shanghai Expo, “Better City, Better Life,” exploring how to best showcase this stretch of cites along China’s southeastern coastline to an international audience in Shanghai next year.
“The World Expo is not an ordinary carnival but is endowed with a global signi?cance,” said Zhou Hanmin, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination. He mentioned that 192 countries and 49 international organizations have con?rmed their participation in the Shanghai Expo.
“People around the world will get together to address the common challenges ahead, such as discussing the new wave of technological revolution and the process of urbanization,” he said.
As estimated by the United Nations, city-dwellers will account for 55 percent of the earth’s total population by 2010. China now has an urban population of more than 600 million, with predictions that within the following 15 years, another 3 million people from rural areas will migrate to cities.
Zhou says that with a population of 85 million, the 20 specified cities within the Western Straits Economic Zone should ?rst answer the questions of how to balance the diverse city populations with economic prosperity, and how to remodel urban communities so as to interact more peacefully and cooperatively with rural areas.
Yan Juanqi, vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, agreed that future competition will not only be carried out between countries but also between cities. The Western Straits Economic Zone’s solution will be to form them into a united market, thereby fueling the economic growth on both sides of the Straits.
Delegates from Taiwan meanwhile requested that the Western Straits Economic Zone administrators take full advantage of both the talent and advanced technology available in Taiwan.
“The approval of the Western Straits Economic Zone has created a new history and provided a rare opportunity for people on both sides of the Straits. Since the area aims at profound and further cooperation with Taiwan, people here need to listen to the voices from the eastern side of the Straits as well,” said Dr. Yu Wender, representative of the Taiwan Project Management Association.
Yu’s association is participating in a development plan for Pingtan, which at a distance of 125 km, is the nearest place in Fujian province to Taiwan.
“We are at a turning point in history. A lot of industrials in Taiwan can’t wait to participate in the advancements of the Western Straits Economic Zone and start new enterprises here,” Yu said.
“Now a cooperating partnership between the Western Straits Economic Zone cities and Taiwan is no longer a dream,” he said. “It’s a reality.”