HAIKOU, China, Nov. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — A report from Hainan International Media Center:
The 18th Congress of the World Federation of Hainanese Associations (HNWF2025), themed "New Opportunities in Hainan Free Trade Port: Building a New Bridge with ASEAN," concluded in Penang, Malaysia’s third-largest city, on November 16. The three-day event brought together over 3,000 people of Hainan ancestry, business elites, and Southeast Asian investors from 23 countries and regions.
At the Hainan Free Trade Port-ASEAN Investment Summit held on the 16th, eight Hainan enterprises and institutions signed memoranda of cooperation with their Malaysian counterparts, covering fields such as outbound tourism, biotechnology, legal consulting, catering services, and language and cultural research. These new initiatives are set to significantly advance regional cooperation between Hainan and ASEAN. The Hainan International Arbitration Court took the initiative to "go global," signing a cooperation agreement with the Malaysia Hainan Chamber of Commerce. The move reflects Hainan’s response to international investors’ emphasis on legal safeguards—"making investments more secure," as noted by Dato’ Ricky Tan Seng Cheong, Chairman of the conference’s organizing committee. Representatives from Hainan’s Qiongtai Normal University stated that collaborating with the Federation of Hainan Associations Malaysia will help young Malaysians with Hainan ancestry return to their hometown to learn the Hainanese language and traditional culture, while also promoting student exchanges to Malaysia, enabling the younger generation to become cultural ambassadors connecting China and ASEAN.
Delegates gather for the HNWF2025.
In addition, numerous Hainan food and catering brands appeared at this conference, seeking mutually beneficial cooperation while connecting with overseas Hainanese communities worldwide.
On December 18, 2025, Hainan will usher in an era of greater opening up with the launch of island-wide special customs operations. HNWF2025, coming just over a month before the launch of special customs operations and at a time when the Hainan FTP’s policy dividends are growing increasingly apparent, serves as an essential channel for Hainan to enhance mutual trust and promote cooperation with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. For delegates attending the event, seizing the opportunity to deepen cooperation between Hainan and ASEAN, facilitating the coordination of business resources of the Hainanese people both in Hainan and globally, and accelerating industrial alignment and project implementation has become a broad consensus.
