Heilongjiang province has brought 120 major projects to Hong Kong - from modern agriculture to resources and the energy industry - to lure local investors.

Lu Hao, governor of the northeastern province, told the Heilongjiang Hong Kong Financial Cooperation Symposium at Admiralty on Wednesday the province offers a wide array of emerging industries with great potential.

But, he admitted that, due to the mainland's overall economic downturn and a production decline at Daqing Oilfield, Heilongjiang's economic growth has also slowed down. Last year, the province recorded GDP growth of 5.6 percent.

Firstly, he said the modern agriculture industry will provide many opportunities, including a high-quality and efficient agriculture sector, as well as animal husbandry, food processing and the finance industry.

A total of 180 modern breeding ranches have already been built in Heilongjiang while more are expected to be set up soon.

Lu said Hong Kong investors may also like to explore Heilongjiang's rich ecological resources. The province, he said, is one of the mainland's pilot ecological and construction-related provinces that offer vast opportunities for developing the tourism, health and cultural sectors.

The entire province has 20.8 million hectares of forest land and 5.56 million hectares of natural wetland, official data show. Heilongjiang is cool in summer and scenic in winter with ice and snow.

The province will further step up mineral explorations and enhance the capitalization of its natural resources, while strengthening cooperation with Russia - from trading to a full range of economic and trade cooperation.

Lu added that Hong Kong entrepreneurs are welcome to cooperate with universities and research institutions in Heilongjiang, and the local government will facilitate high-tech startups with incubators.

Chen Shuang, chief executive of China Everbright Ltd, told the symposium that Everbright has stepped up its investments in Heilongjiang in the past few years. The group is setting up an agriculture fund with partners to invest in the agriculture sector in the long term.

He urged Hong Kong enterprises to join Everbright in investing in Heilongjiang as the company has a wealth of at experience gained from its past cooperation with the local government.

sophiehe@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 05/07/2015 page8)