The Government of the Virgin Islands will welcome a delegation from Qianhai Special Economic Zone as well as senior officials of the Municipality of Shenzhen in the province of Guangdong, China from January 9 to 12 2014. Photo: VINO/File

The six-member delegation will meet with various stakeholders in the Virgin Islands to discuss areas pertaining to cooperation in financial services, the British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) economy, cultural matters as well as education.

Shenzhen, one of the wealthiest cities in China, ranked second in Forbes’ 2012 list of innovative mainland cities and eighth in the world in terms of its economic vitality.  With four pillar industries namely, hi-tech financial services, cultural industry and modern logistics, Shenzhen has established a sophisticated mechanism of manufacturing and service industries. Shenzhen is also regarded as leaders of transportation of passengers and cargo, ranking 49th and 24th respectively in the world.

Qianhai is a modern service industry cooperation zone in Shenzhen charged with four roles namely – an innovation area for the mechanisms of the modern service industry, a cluster area of modern service development, a pilot area for intensive cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and an industry upgrade leading area in the Pearl River Delta.  Qianhai’s industry pays special attention to Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, high-end development, and servicing both local and international markets.  The top priorities are in finance, modern logistics (transportation), information services, technology services and other professional services.

The Qianhai/Shenzhen visit to the BVI will be lead by Party Chief of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee Dr. Wang Rong.  Shenzhen presents an opportunity not just for cooperation on financial services but also in tourism and cultural matters including education.  This shows that BVI continues to be highly regarded in China in financial services. 

The delegation will have meetings over the three days with the Governor, Ministers and other senior government officials including the Tourist Board, the Ports Authority and the Financial Services Commission.  

The aim of the meetings is to discuss possible areas of cooperation and understanding between the BVI Government and the Qianhai Authority, which is the economic zone for the Shenzhen Municipality.

Their visit will also include an island tour, a sail to Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke. An advance team of seven will arrive in the Territory early next week to support BVI officials in preparing for the visit.