China is formulation its 13th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development. We will focus on a new round of opening-up at a higher level and speed up efforts to build and open economy. In the regard, we encourage well-placed provinces and cities to try out certain reforms measures. For example, we have established four pilot free trade zones in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian based on a management model of pre-establishment national treatment and negative list. In Beijing, we have, on a trial basis, opened up six service sectors including finance, tourism and healthcare to foreign investors. We will take effective measures to ensure coordinated development between different regions and urban and rural areas, and accelerate the development of underdeveloped regions. We will advance the "Belt and Road" Initiative at a faster pace to build platforms for different parts of China to expand their external cooperation. For instance, Xinjiang is a core area of the Silk Road economic belt and Yunnan is a gateway to the southwest under the "Belt and Road" Initiative. The U.S. and other countries are welcome to actively participate in the "Belt and Road" Initiative. All these measures will create opportunities for China-U.S. sub-national cooperation.
Third, the two sides need to unlock more local potentials for complementary cooperation. The key to successful cooperation is to leverage our respective strengths. Many areas in China and the U.S. boast unique local strengths, which are highly complementary. We need to make full use of these strengths in our cooperation. Just as a Chinese saying goes, "When eight immortals crossed the sea, each showed their own magic." Take agricultural cooperation as an example. Iowa is known as the "granary of the U.S." and Oregon is also a major agricultural producer. These two states can strengthen their cooperation with big agricultural producers like Shaanxi, Hebei and Heilongjiang provinces. California's HP has set up a global computer production center in Chongqing, where further cooperation in IT industry and be expected. Michigan, as the largest motor vehicles producer of the U.S., can also explore cooperation with China. In fact, Michigan may start with the six Chinese provinces and cities present today, as they all have a booming car industry. And the two sides can explore cooperation in a third market.
China is making great effort to protect the eco-system, which is a priority in its 13th Five-Year Plan. According to initial estimates, China's annual input into environmental protection in the past few years approached 200 billion dollars. At the local level, environmental input is also rising rapidly. China has the demand and the market, while the U.S. has the technology and the expertise. Washington, with its strengths in environmental protection, coastline protection in particular, can step up its cooperation with those Chinese provinces that invest heavily in this area or coastal provinces in China. The first China-U.S. Climate Leaders Summit recently held in Los Angeles was as great success. Many of our provinces or states are playing an exemplary role by setting emissions reduction targets more ambitious than national ones. Such efforts need to be recognized and encouraged. Exchange and cooperation in environmental protection at the local level should be part and parcel of our joint efforts to address climate change and promote sustainable development.
I deeply value the cultural and people-to-people exchanges between our two countries. Relatives and friends become closer if they visit each other more. This is also true for Chinese and Americans. Exchanges bring deeper friendship and more vigorous practical cooperation. Local governments from both sides need to engage each other extensively in areas like education, tourism, sports and youth and encourage more interactions between people from all walks of life.
I know as governors, your are most concerned about employment. Cooperation in the above-mentioned areas will promote growth and create jobs, thus bringing benefits to our peoples.
The Chinese provinces and cities represented today are each home to dozens of, or even over a hundred, universities. In some provinces, university students number over a million. When I was Governor of Zhejiang back in 2006, I attended a signing ceremony for a joint initiative between Wenzhou University and Kean University to establish the Wenzhou-Kean University. After years of efforts, this university was finally up and running last year and is making good progress today. Also in Zhejiang, nearly 100 primary and secondary schools have established sister-school relationships with their U.S. counterparts with robust exchanges. We also need to explore various ways of education cooperation and nurture high-caliber people that meet the need of our societies in the future. In the next three years, China will support a total of 50,000 Chinese and American students to study in each other's countries, and the U.S. will provide opportunities to as many as one million American students to learn Chinese by 2020. We will hold the Chinese-U.S. Tourism Year in 2016. These measures will provide more platforms for greater cultural and people-to-people exchanges at the sub-national level. I hope that we can all add building blocks to the bridge of Chinese-American friendship.
Chinese people often say, "Seize the moment", while westerners believe in "making hay while the sun shines." Now is the prime time for China-U.S. sub-national cooperation. I hope your will seize the moment, build on the momentum and work together to write a new chapter of China-U.S. sub-national cooperation.
Thank you.
