Li Ji, general manager of the Xiamen Cross-Strait Exchange Center, is interviewed by a group of journalists on Dec 24. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A science and technology board has been set up by the Xiamen Cross-Strait Equity Exchange Center -- as part of a flurry of measures designed to boost regional growth in Southwest Fujian province, in an initiative launched by the provincial government.

The positive impact of the new board was confirmed by journalists who visited the center on a fact-finding tour on Dec 24, according to local officials.

At an earlier news conference held on Oct 29, the Sci-tech Board for Southwestern Fujian Companies was unveiled, together with joint efforts made by the technology bureaus and financial authorities in the five cities of Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Longyan, Sanming and Quanzhou.

Meanwhile, more than 100 companies from the five cities were appointed to the board at the meeting.

The companies included 104 groups from Xiamen, eight from Quanzhou, five from Longyan and one from Zhangzhou.

Two months later, a total of 421 companies from the five cities joined the board, 363 of which are from Xiamen.

Officials said the board can provide a wide array of services for companies in southwestern Fujian that  intended to enter the capital market.

These include policy analysis, training and other services.

It brings together a number of professionalized financial institutes to provide financing and equity trading services for companies, especially medium-sized and small ones, according to Li Ji, general manager of the Xiamen Cross-Strait Equity Exchange Center.

She added that a specialized board for each of the five cities would be established as the center continued to improve itself.

The press tour was part of the activity proposed by the Xiamen publicity department and organized by the local publicity departments of the five cities in southwestern Fujian.

A delegation of reporters toured around the five cities to get an idea of how they are working towards common development, since the provincial government launched the initiative to promote the coordinated development of southwestern Fujian.

In May 2018, the Fujian Provincial Government called for the establishment of a southwestern Fujian coordinated development area. Three months later, a joint meeting was held in Fuzhou to discuss in detail how to achieve this goal.

After that, the five cities began cooperating in transportation, industry, education, medicine, environmental protection, information and tourism.