Collaboration under the "9+2" framework agreement is paying off,
with 473 deals worth 241.2 billion yuan (US$29.1 billion) signed on
the first day the First Pan-Pearl River Delta (P-PRD) Regional
Economic and Trade Fair.
The three-day fair opened Wednesday in Guangzhou, the capital of
south China's Guangdong
Province.
The P-PRD 9+2 concept, proposed by Guangdong Party Secretary
Zhang Dejiang last year, involves the nine provinces or autonomous
regions of Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan,
Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi, and the two special administrative
regions, Hong Kong and Macao.
Seven of the deals concluded yesterday involved government
contracts worth 120.2 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion). The other 466
agreements, all between enterprises, are valued at 121 billion yuan
(US$14.6 billion).
"The P-PRD concept is generating power at this fair, which is
making tangible results from invisible and abstract integration
strategies," said Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua.
Vice Premier Wu Yi said the fair promotes coordinated regional
development and encourages economic and trade exchanges between
Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland.
Between June 1 and 3, top officials from the 9+2 areas discussed
collaboration and dates for events. The initial 9+2 agreement was
signed on June 3, and the fair is the first event resulting from
the pact.
The final framework agreement will be signed on the last day of
the fair.
The fair covers more than 20,000 square meters, with 1,056
exhibition booths divided into 10 business sectors: infrastructure,
industry and investment, commerce and trade, tourism, agriculture,
labor, science, education and culture, information technology, and
environmental protection and public health.
More than 15,000 people, mainly entrepreneurs and some
officials, are attending the fair.
Eight conferences on a variety of economic and trade promotion
themes are being held on the second and third days.
"The framework helps to stabilize cooperation and exchanges
between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, making it easy to
maintain the SARs' prosperity," said Yao Huarong, director of the
external cooperation division of the Guangdong Provincial Science
and Technology Administration.
Yao's administration signed an agreement with the University of
Macao on a training program for people in the traditional Chinese
medicine industry.
(China Daily July 15, 2004)