SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a speech in Shenzhen on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the establishment of China’s first special economic zone in the southern city 40 years ago, the Xinhua state news agency reported on Monday.
The leader of neighbouring Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, later said she would postpone her annual policy address scheduled for Wednesday and travel to Shenzhen instead, though she said no meeting with Xi was scheduled.
Lam said she would go to Beijing later this month and aimed to hold her policy address by the end of November.
On Sunday, the central government announced measures to give Shenzhen greater control over land use, intended to encourage foreign investment in the technology sector, while reducing red tape in energy and telecoms.
One of the testing grounds for reforms that spurred China’s high-paced growth over the last four decades, the Chinese Communist Party touts Shenzhen as a gleaming symbol of China’s emergence as a global economic power.
Xinhua did not give any details of Xi’s speech but it is likely to touch on further integration of the Greater Bay Area, a region that includes Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in China’s Guangdong province, including Shenzhen.
(Reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen. Editing by Gerry Doyle, Robert Birsel)
