“Thousands of Overseas Chinese Unite as One to Co-create the Future” On November 13, the Publicity Department of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee held a press conference, announcing that with the approval of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People’s Government, the 2019 Overseas Chinese Pioneering Conference (abbreviated as HCH) would be hosted in Wuhan from November 20 to 22. Li Shuyong, Executive Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee, briefed the media on the preparation progress of the 2019 HCH. Chen Changhong, Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and Party Secretary of Hubei Institute of Socialism, and Ma Zhezhi, Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, attended the conference and answered journalists’ questions. Over one thousand guests from home and abroad would gather by East Lake to share the bond of the HCH and jointly fulfill the HCH vision.

This edition of HCH is co-hosted by the Hubei Provincial People’s Government, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, and the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government. It is jointly undertaken by the United Front Work Department of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee (Hubei Overseas Chinese Affairs Office), the Talent Work Leading Group Office of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee, the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province, the United Front Work Department of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee (Wuhan Overseas Chinese Affairs Office), and the Administrative Committee of Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone. A series of events will be held during the conference, including the Opening Ceremony, the Wuhan Forum, a Signing Ceremony for Key Projects, the Award Ceremony of the 6th HCH Cup Entrepreneurship Competition, together with 14 special sessions such as the Intelligent Manufacturing & 10th Chang-Lin Tien Forum, Biomedicine, Boosting Rural Revitalization through the Big Health Industry, and Hubei Technology Going Global.

At the press conference, Li Shuyong, Executive Vice Minister of the Provincial United Front Work Department, introduced that this HCH would be the first to be held after the transfer of Hubei’s overseas Chinese affairs work to the Provincial United Front Work Department. Efforts would be made to stage an upgraded, clean and upright grand event. “We will firmly put an end to repetitive and false project signings. We will strengthen pre-conference docking, on-site negotiations and post-conference follow-ups, and vigorously introduce a batch of high-quality, high-standard, high-value and eco-friendly projects,” said Li Shuyong.

With the theme “Thousands of Overseas Chinese Unite as One to Co-create the Future”, this HCH extends key invitations to outstanding overseas Chinese representatives with prominent political standing, robust economic strength, distinguished academic attainments and extensive social influence, so as to raise the overall calibre of participants. It plans to invite 800 overseas delegates and 1,000 domestic delegates.

This year’s HCH features strictly controlled scale and rigorous qualification vetting. In terms of participant numbers, overseas delegates are cut from 1,000 in previous years to 800, and domestic delegates reduced from 2,000 to 1,000. The number of special sessions is trimmed from 24 last year to 14.

Following the China International Import Expo and the 7th CISM Military World Games, the 2019 HCH stands as another large-scale, high-level and wide-reaching grand opening-up event in China, marking multiple “firsts”: - It will set up an Intellectual Property Rights Service Station for the first time to deliver targeted services for overseas Chinese; - It will host a special exhibition and promotion of poverty alleviation featured products for the first time; - It will launch an exhibition zone showcasing key development zones and entrepreneurship parks across Hubei Province for the first time; - An on-site Press Center will be inaugurated for the first time to foster a positive atmosphere of united efforts to realize the Chinese Dream.

It is noted that since its launch in 2001, the HCH has been held consecutively for 18 sessions in Wuhan. To date, more than 2,300 projects have been signed with agreed investment exceeding 390 billion yuan. Around 20,000 overseas Chinese professionals and entrepreneurs have participated as delegates. The conference has evolved into a renowned brand for talent and capital introduction within the national overseas Chinese affairs system, an effective platform serving overseas Chinese who return to China for entrepreneurship and development, as well as a national-level international exchange business card showcasing Hubei’s opening-up drive.