Beijing-Hong Kong ties will be strengthened this year with a pledge by planners from both cities to boost their common prosperity.

 

"A closer relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong is part of Beijing's strategic plan to accelerate economic development," said Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun at the 17th Beijing-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium held in Beijing.

 

In order to work smoothly with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Beijing will simplify its project approval process, cutting wait times by more than half, from 300 to 109 working days, Wang said at the symposium's opening ceremonies.

 

And with air pollutionbeing a top issue in Beijing amid a newly issued five-year action plan, Wang said that the city will give major support to environmental protection, bringing in advanced technologies from Hong Kong in such sectors as pollution control and wastewater/sewage treatment.

 

Over the past decade, progress has been made in terms of economic cooperation between Beijing and Hong Kong, the mayor noted.

 

Investment from Hong Kong reached 3.1 billion USD in the first nine months of 2013, accounting for 40.7 percent of Beijing's utilized overseas direct investment.

 

By September, Hong Kong investors had established 12,468 companies in Beijing, with actual investment of 27.83 billion USD, official data said.

 

Hong Kong also is the top overseas investment destination for Beijing-based companies.

 

In the first nine months of the year, Beijing's direct investment in Hong Kong reached 742 million USD, up by 572.24 percent year-on-year.

 

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said cooperation between the two cities has gone beyond only economic aspects.

 

"We have already expanded the cooperation into other fields, such as social livelihood of the people," Leung said.

 

During the two-day symposium, 370 investment projects in Beijing, covering finance, trade, cultural and creative industries, innovative technology, logisticsand tourism, were promoted, according to the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau.

 

One major sector for closer cooperation is in the cultural and creative industries, where four projects worth 175 million CNY (28.5 million USD) were promoted. Through these projects, Beijing and Hong Kong will cooperate on creative cultural zones as well as digital films.

 

Eric C. Yim, chairman of the Hong Kong Furniture and Decoration Trade Association Ltd, said a large number of designers and furniture manufacturers from Hong Kong have set up studios and boutique stores in the bustling Beijing area of Sanlitun, attracted by the purchasing power of the city's residents,

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