A sports exchange and cooperation memorandum has been signed between Hong Kong and Yunnan to establish a platform for sports development in the two places.

Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho, who signed for Hong Kong, said the platform aimed to achieve exchange and cooperation in sports between the two places and to draw on the synergy of the regional cooperation framework of Pan-Pearl River Delta comprising nine provinces and two special administrative regions.

Yunnan is represented by the head of the Sports Bureau of Yunnan Provincial Government, Cha Dalin.

The two governments had agreed to develop sport for their mutual benefits in four aspects:

* To develop sport for all, advocate sports exchanges between sports organisations and associations, mass participation in sports regardless of age and class, as well as the popularisation of sports and formation of sporting culture;

* To hold non-scheduled competitions of different levels in both places, in a bid to identify and train upcoming athletes and raise the standard of sports;

* To create conditions through exchange of coaches, complementary training bases and sharing of sport science information in a mutually beneficial manner for better training of elite athletes;

* To cooperate closely in the development of sport industries for improved operation and regulation of the industries and exchange of information.