After CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement), the Pan-Pearl River Delta (Pan-PRD) Regional Cooperation and Development is another big move to strengthen economic cooperation between Hong Kong, Macao and China's Mainland.

Chen Zuo'er, deputy director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at the Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum which opened Monday in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The four-day forum was jointly sponsored by nine provinces and regions in the Pan-PRD region, which encompasses Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as Hong Kong and Macao.

Chen said the economy in the eight provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region in the Pan-PRD region and the economy in Hong Kong and Macao are complementary to each other.

Further cooperation calls for a scientific cooperative layout, improved infrastructure construction connecting Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland and policies to facilitate the flow of people, goods and capital in the region, he said.

As China's largest regional economic entity, the Pan-PRD occupies 20 percent of the national land, has over one third of the national population and contributes to more than 40 percent to the national gross domestic product.

Source: Xinhua