Economic Hubs Taking Shape in S. China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, December 21, 2002

Economic Hubs Taking Shape in S. China

Economic integration of the Greater Pearl River Delta, a giant economic bloc that covers Hong Kong, Macao and south China's Guangdong Province, is gaining increasing momentum.

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Economic integration of the Greater Pearl River Delta, a giant economic bloc that covers Hong Kong, Macao and south China's Guangdong Province, is gaining increasing momentum.

"Helping the Pear River Delta is helping ourselves," said recently Chairman Peter Woo of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, which is promoting Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region as a whole for foreign investment. "Any new plant in the Pear River Delta is likely to need Hong Kong's service."

In late November, China's State Council approved the Western Passage Project between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, a special economiczone in Guangdong Province.

The project consists of a 5,154-meter-long bridge designed to facilitate two-way transportation. Design work has started and construction is scheduled to start in 2003.

Not long after the project was approved, the airports of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao reached an agreement on cooperation in aircraft emergency landing and necessary assistance.

Zhuhai and Macao are also actively making preparations for the establishment of a cross-border industrial zone.

Feng Bangyan, director of the Research Institute of Macao and Hong Kong Affairs under Guangdong's Ji'nan University, said economic integration in this region is inevitable and beneficial to all sides.

Since China adopted its opening up policy in the late 1970s, tens of thousands of Hong Kong and Macao companies have invested in neighboring Guangdong Province on the mainland, particularly the Pearl River Delta area, said Feng.

He said in the process, an economic model that made the low-cost Guangdong the processing and manufacturing base and Hong Kongthe selling platform evolved naturally.

After years of development, Guangdong has developed into an important global manufacturing base featuring rapid development speed and complete production factors. Hong Kong, meanwhile, has successfully shifted from a manufacturing center into a service-focused international trading metropolis, said Feng. Feng said economic cooperation in this region is taking on a new dimension these days. Investment from Hong Kong and Macao is spreading to hi-tech and service sectors in Guangdong, and further inland after China's entry into the WTO.

So far, a number of Hong Kong companies have announced their plans to invest in the mainland's IT industry, while Guangdong is one of China's most prominent IT industrial bases at present.

Investment from Hong Kong and Macao in travel, retail, consulting, training, accounting and legal services is also growing very fast.

Chinese scholars said the "Greater Pearl River Delta Economic Block" has become an established concept. To further promote economic integration in this region, however, a sound cooperation mechanism still needs to be instituted, which may take a few yearsyet to mature.

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