Regional cooperation between HK, MC and GZ meeting held in GZ

The Third Liaison and Co-ordinating Meeting of "The Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020)" was held in Guangzhou last Friday (February 5).

(Left to right) Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang Ying Yen, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province Wan Qingliang and Macau's Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen.

Vice Governor of Guangdong Province Wan Qingliang and Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang Ying Yen also led an official delegation to attend the event.

The conference concluded the progress and effectiveness of the "Outline" which was jointly implemented by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau in 2009, and also confirmed the key areas and projects in the "Outline" that the three governments are going to focus on in 2010.

Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen said the Macau government will keep being dedicated to pushing forward regional cooperation in every aspect with Guangdong and Hong Kong in the year ahead.

Secretary Tam said in a speech that the "Outline" has provided a "high-level and effective institutional protection" for the closer ties between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

Since the first liaison and co-ordinating meeting was held in Hong Kong in February last year, he said that the Macau government has been putting important efforts in "facilitating the connections of major infrastructure, reinforcing cooperation between the service sectors, promoting cooperation in Hengqin Island as well as building a quality living circle".

As for the year ahead, the Secretary for Economy and Finance announced that the Macau government will "give priorities to the development in Hengqin, promote closer economic and trade relationship with Guangdong, be an active partner in the creation of a quality living circle, implement special projects for the construction of infrastructure in the three places, and also to facilitate connections between Guangdong and Macau's railway networks.

At the same time, he said that Macau will continue to make use of the annual International Environmental Co-operation Forum (MIECF) to build a "green industry exchange platform", step up regional cooperation in science and technology and to deepen the cooperation in Chinese medicine industry between Guangdong and Macau.

Under the framework of the "Outline", Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong will work side by side to further enhance and renew the tripartite cooperation mechanism, "in order to accelerate economic integration of the three places and thus jointly form a major metropolitan hub with the largest core competitiveness in the world", added Secretary Tam.

On the other hand, during the conference Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang Ying Yen proposed that Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau will from now on take turn to host the Pearl River Forum, which was held in Guangzhou last year, and also suggested Macau to be the host of this year's forum.