The first Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation and Development Forum continued its second day meeting in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Wednesday.

The three-day forum, which opened in Hong Kong Tuesday, focuses on "cooperative development and jointly creating future," indicating the beginning of the largest regional cooperation amongChina's eight provinces, one autonomous region and two special administrative regions.

Zhang Dejiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of Guangdong provincial committee of the CPC, Tung Chee Hwa, Chief Executive ofHong Kong SAR, Ho Hau Wah, Chief Executive of Macao SAR, and leaders from the region's provinces and autonomous region and related ministers of the central government attended the meeting in Macao.

Ho Hau Wah said at the meeting that cooperation in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region is a step-by-step process. "Its significance lies not only in extension of the geographic concept from Pear-River Delta to Pan-Pearl River Delta, but also in the agreement of regional integration, and as a result, in the system innovation and development opportunities."

The forum is co-hosted by nine provinces and regions in the PPRD region, which encompasses Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as Hong Kongand Macao SARs.

The cooperation will be focused on key fields including infrastructure construction, investment, commerce and trade, tourism, agriculture, labor, science, education and culture, information technology, environmental protection and health care.

The delegates of forum arrived in Macao Wednesday morning afterthe first day meeting in Hong Kong. They also visited the urban construction projects. The ensuing session and the closing ceremony will be staged in Guangzhou on Thursday.

Source: Xinhua