A Yangtze River Delta Economic Cooperation Seminar was recently held by the Economic Research Center under the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) in cooperation with the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. The event marked the beginning of regional economic integration in the area.

Geographically, the Yangtze River Delta is a huge area that comprises 15 cities from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and the Shanghai municipality. Among them, Shanghai is identified as the leading city.

With rapid growth and increasing economic volume, the region has become one of the six largest metropolitan areas in the world. It has 10 cities listed in the top 35 most developed cities in China. Of China's 100 most developed cities, a half lie in Yangtze River Delta region. In addition, a recent appraisal identified four of China's top 10 cities as being located in this region. Experts noted that due to recent regional economic developments, the Yangtze River Delta expanse has reached a high level of regional economic integration.

The region is now considered mature enough for improved economic cooperation. The governments of the municipality and provinces have reached an agreement on the region's development, and established regular symposiums as mechanism for better economic cooperation. Currently, a joint conference attended by 15 mayors from Yangtze River Delta region, together with open channels of communication between deputy governors has become a reality.

In order to optimize the economic environment, lower costs, and improve regional competitiveness, the municipality and provinces have decided to work together in six areas, including traffic network construction, unified markets, environmental protection, information sharing, financial cooperation and talent introduction.

Accordingly, the municipality and provinces have recently identified five goals.

The first goal is to boost the regional traffic network by focusing on the layout of traffic infrastructure, such as roads, sea-routes and ports. A rapid track traffic route between cities in the area is also under consideration.

The second objective is to make plans to share e-government resource and credit system information, develop an electronic map of the area, and jointly protect the sub-marine optical cable.

The third aim is to strengthen the cooperation on local tourism. A three-pronged approach will be used to boost the tourism industry in the main cities. The first prong will focus on developing a car rental industry. The second prong will extend the time for short-stay visas in Shanghai, and the third prong will concentrate on mounting a collaborative approach to tapping into Taihu Lake and other tourist destinations.

The fourth goal is to establish a framework for environmental protection and restoration in the Yangtze River Delta, especially at Taihu Lake. A joint prevention system to reduce pollution is also expected to be established.

The fifth objective is to link gas pipelines in the region, and share the energy resource across the whole area.

(china.org.cn by Tang Fuchun, September 17, 2002)