Shenzhen will provide more land to companies in the finance industry, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng said Wednesday.

"The city government will give priority to the financial sector when selling land," Xu told a meeting attended by heads of financial institutions and government officials.

The finance industry is one of the four pillar industries of Shenzhen, but the sector's contribution to GDP has been declining in recent years, due to the rise of other cities in the finance sector. In order to boost the finance industry, Xu led a delegation to Hong Kong a few months ago to explore possibilities of Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation in the industry.

"Supporting the development of the financial industry is a major task of the municipal government. We will continue to provide preferable policies for the industry, and to make sure that financial institutions enjoy the most preferable policies," said Xu.
Xu also vowed to speed up the construction of the Futian financial center and the face-lift of Caiwuwei area, a financial center in Luohu District.

(Shenzhen Daily August 18, 2006)