Leaders of nine provinces and autonomous regions in southern Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao have united to bolster economic ties and ensure the smooth flow of capital and personnel.

 

Senior officials from the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region gathered at the ongoing PPRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum in Changsha, Hunan Province. The forum saw successful agreements that will accelerate capital market development and give rise to a property right trading system and a financial risk prevention mechanism among a slew of other financial issues.

 

The regional economic framework, also known as "9+2 cooperation," comprises Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.

 

The 11 senior leaders agreed to further open up the financial market and build a multi-tier capital market in an effort to facilitate the smooth flow of capital, technology and personnel within the territory of the region.

 

HK Chief Executive Donald Tsang, leading the SAR's delegation, vouched to use Hong Kong's financial clout to support PPRD-based enterprises and infrastructure construction with needed market tools and services. He also pledged to try and reduce restrictions on cooperation between Hong Kong and mainland financial institutions.

 

Currently, 370 mainland companies, including more than 100 from the PPRD, have joined the Hong Kong stock market and have raised more than HK$1.5 trillion (over US$192 billion).

 

Underdeveloped regions within the PPRD boast great growth potential, but all members must work together to raise the investment profile of these areas, while improving their payment systems and installing more efficient settlement services, added a senior official with the Hong Kong Financial Administration.

 

This goal is one step closer to being accomplished now that the nine mainland provinces and autonomous regions are touting a strategic alliance among rural credit cooperatives to maximize financial capacity.

 

Shao Ning, deputy director of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, has urged PPRD to help local companies to go out and facilitate the inbound flow of investment.

 

Occupying 20 percent of China's land territory and home to one third of the country's population, the PPRD region contributes 31.7 percent of the nation's total gross domestic product.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2007)