By Maverick Chen

The Fifth Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Economic and Trade Fair opened on June 10 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The Fifth Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Economic and Trade Fair opened on June 10 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The "9+2 Forum" sees nine provinces in the PPRD area and beyond represented in the forum, including Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan in addition to Hong Kong and Macao.

Since the PPRD Forum started in 2004, the regional fair has been targeting enhanced regional cooperation, clearly a win-win situation among its members. The first forum was held in Guangdong, and was jointly organized with Hong Kong and Macao. Previous fairs have generated contracts worth more than 1.6 trillion yuan (US$234.31) in total.

Over the years, close economic ties have been established within the region, giving rise to remarkable regional development, said Guo Shengkun, Party chief of the Guangxi Autonomous Region's CPC Committee, at the opening ceremony. The prospects for further cooperation are promising, he continued.

The PPRD Forum this year has been launched at a time when the domestic economy is only just starting the recovery process, while international business prospects remain gloomy. So the spotlight is very much on the economic forum itself as well as the resulting resolutions concerning the economic crisis.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang, and his counterpart from Macao Ho Hau Wah are both attending the fair and were present at the opening ceremony. In a meeting with the Guangxi's Chairman Ma Biao, Donald Tseng mentioned that the world financial hurricane has had a major impact on the Hong Kong market, particularly on its exports. Medium and small businesses in Hong Kong have been suffering difficulties in finding sources of finance, but with reliable assistance from central government, Hong Kong currently is still basically stable, and still represents a prime base for PPRD businesses to start their international expansion, he said.

Tsang also made the point in talks with Huang Xiaojing, governor of Fujian Province, that "9+2" is an important platform for cross-Straits business interactions. He wishes to see more Fujian companies go international through the professional platform available in Hong Kong. Since the first PPRD Forum opened, the number of Hong Kong listed PPRD companies has risen from 71 in 2004 to 113 in 2008.

The PPRD region covers 20 percent of China's territory and is home to one third of the country's population. It contributes more than 30 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

(China.org.cn, June 10, 2009)