Int'l Coconut Festival to be Held

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 ◆ Int'l Coconut Festival to be Held

An international coconut festival is to be held from April 28 to May 22 by China's southernmost province of Hainan, the country's largest special economic zone ( SEZ) and a famous tourist spot, sources told a news conference here Tuesday. The Tenth Hainan International Coconut Festival is a gathering featuring activities concerning travel, cultural exchanges and economic cooperation, said Zhao Guowei, an official with the festival's Organizing Committee. According to Zhao, a series of activities such as a Golden Trip to Hainan, Best Living Habitat Exhibition, and a Bio-economy Seminar and Trade Fair will be staged during the festival. Meanwhile, the award-winning team of Miss France 2001 will also tour China at the invitation of the festival's Organizing Committee. The Miss France competition started in 1920 and was the first formal beauty contest worldwide. Zhou Chengjun, an official with the Hainan provincial government, said that the festival is expected to attract more foreign and domestic investors to the Yangpu Special Economic Development Zone. "Yangpu enjoys the most favorable investment and development policies in China, and will repay investors' efforts with handsome gains," said Zhou. Yangpu is a 150 square kilometer peninsular, located in the northwest of Hainan, some 140 kilometers away from the provincial capital of Haikou. The 30 sq km Yangpu special economic development zone was established in 1992, and was constructed by using foreign funds. Various preferential policies were adopted for the benefit of foreign operations in the SEZ.