Officials from Pingtan made the latest stop in their promotional tour in Shenzhen, a major financial center in South China, on Dec 15, as the city in Fujian province looks to promote its preferential policies for the financial and tourism industries, Pingtan Times reported.

A total of 300 famous financial companies and tourism investment companies from Shenzhen, Hong Kong and other cities in South China took part in the conference.

Zhang Zhaomin, Party chief of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, met with a number of entrepreneurs and introduced the city's development briefly.

He said Pingtan has witnessed a rapid improvement in the city's infrastructure in recent years. A railway linking Pingtan and Fuzhou, the provincial capital of Fujian province, is currently under construction, and once in operation the new rail link will cut journey times between the two cities to just half an hour.

He also said that, as a comprehensive pilot zone, free trade zone and international tourism island, Pingtan has rolled out many preferential policies. He expressed the hope that all the entrepreneurs present could pay a visit to Pingtan, get to know the city and invest in the city, giving an impetus to the city's further development.

After hearing Zhang' introduction, many entrepreneurs said they were inspired by Pingtan' achievements, particularly by the recent development of its financial industry. They also expressed their eagerness to visit Pingtan personally and seek cooperation opportunities there.

Pingtan has rolled out a total of 28 innovative measures to promote its burgeoning financial sector so far, and has made huge progress in the use of Chinese currency in cross-border trade and cross-Straits financial cooperation.

In addition to the promotion conference held lately in Shenzhen, Pingtan has held several other promotion activities in other cities including Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai, and they appear to be paying dividends.

Currently, 132 companies have registered in Pingtan, and the number of financial companies settled in the city' financial district has reached 962, an increase of 132 percent over last year.