On June 24, Ms. Zhu Li and Mr. Kou Yanan, deputy commissioners of the Shenzhen Special Commissioner Office of Ministry of Commerce and the delegation, visited YANTIAN. The visit was accompanied by Lawrence Shum, Managing Director of Hutchison Ports YANTIAN. The two sides exchanged ideas on the port development and construction and the high-quality development of international trade.

Lawrence Shum warmly welcomed the two commissioners, and introduced in detail the development and operation of YANTlAN. The delegation toured the Visitor Centre of YANTIAN as well as the port facilities, and affirmed the achievements of YANTIAN during the past decades. This is the first field trip to an enterprise of Ms. Zhu Li since she has been appointed as the deputy commissioner of the Shenzhen Special Commissioner Office of Ministry of Commerce.

Lawrence Shum (left) introduced the development of YANTIAN to Zhu Li (centre) and Kou Yanan (right)

In the discussion following the visit, Zhu Li said that YANTIAN, as a pioneer of Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation over the past 29 years, has made outstanding contributions to the economic and social take-off of Shenzhen and the high-quality development of international trade in China. At present, YANTIAN should continue to seize the opportunity brought by the development of both the Greater Bay Area and the Shenzhen Demonstration Zone to leverage its advantages as a world-class hub port and raise the overall competitiveness of the international shipping industry of Shenzhen to a new level. Given the complex international landscape and the challenges brought by the pandemic, governments and ministries at all levels have taken various measures to help enterprises engaging in international trade overcome difficulties, ensuring smooth flow of logistics, supply chain, industry chain and stable economic growth. Through this field trip, the two commissioners had the firsthand information of the demand of the port and shipping industry in intermodal service, cross-border e-commerce, cold chain business and so on. They would report the information and proposals to relevant authorities for the roll-out of policies to promote the stable development of international trade.

Kou Yanan said that YANTIAN has closely followed the national development strategy and actively implemented relevant policies, achieving remarkable development results. With the rapid growth of the Greater Bay Area, the world-class port cluster in the area is taking shape, and there is new space for Shenzhen and Hong Kong to carry out maritime cooperation. YANTIAN shall seize the opportunity, and the Ministry of Commerce will also provide strong support and coordinate resources to address difficulties in the development of the port and shipping industry.

Lawrence Shum expressed his gratitude for the support and guidance of Zhu Li, Kou Yanan as well as the Ministry of Commerce has been rendering to YANTIAN. He said that YANTIAN would continue to improve our teminal operation while complying with the stringent COVID-19 preventive measures, support Hong Kong’s effort in the combat against the epidemic, and facilitate the smooth flow of international trade logistics in the Greater Bay Area. At the same time, YANTIAN will also act as a "bridge" to communicate issues and needs of the port and shipping industry in cross-border e-commerce, cold chain, port supporting land, tax rebates at port of departure and so on with relevant government departments, and propose initiatives and matters requiring government support. In the future, YANTIAN will keep working with government departments and partners at home and abroad to safeguard the stability of the supply chain and industry chain, and explore new paths for industry development, so that the port and shipping industries can support and reinforce each other, significantly improving the competitiveness of the maritime economy in Shenzhen.