ECECDC Chairman and Former Prime Minister of Spain Zapatero and the Delegation Meet with Liu Xiaoming, Deputy Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Hainan Province, in Boao

On 25 March 2025, Mr. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Chairman of the Europe-China Economic Cooperation and Development Council (ECECDC) and former Prime Minister of Spain, together with the Delegation, met with Mr. Liu Xiaoming, Deputy Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Hainan Province, in Boao.

Mr. Zapatero stated that China has become Spain’s largest trading partner aside from the European Union. He noted that China continues to expand high-level opening-up and is vigorously advancing the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, positioning Hainan as a more open gateway to the world. Spain is willing to deepen cooperation with Hainan in areas such as tourism, ports, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, clean energy, and artificial intelligence, in order to achieve mutual benefit and win-win development through joint efforts.

Mr. Liu Xiaoming welcomed Mr. Zapatero and his delegation and introduced the general conditions of Hainan Province and the progress of Free Trade Port development. He noted that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China–Spain comprehensive strategic partnership. Hainan has long maintained close bilateral relations with Spain and hopes to further strengthen cooperation in tourism, economic and trade exchanges, ports, and subnational government engagement. He expressed expectations for advancing one-stop tourism product development, mutual exchange of tourist sources, connecting flight routes, leveraging the China International Consumer Products Expo to expand markets for high-quality products, opening regular shipping routes, establishing sister-city relationships, carrying out third-party cooperation with Latin America, and jointly promoting sustainable development.