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Several provincial capital cities in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PRD) region have pledged to re-position themselves for closer regional ties.

They are more interested than ever before in investment projects related to industrial transfer from Hong Kong, Macao as well as cities from the Pearl River Delta region in this South China province of Guangdong.

The Pan-PRD region consists of the nation's southern and southwestern provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi and Sichuang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as Hong Kong and Macao.

"It will be our pleasure to encourage projects related to industrial transfer from Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou as well as other Pearl River Delta cities, as long as they are not harmful to the environment and natural resources or represent repeated construction,' said Chen Cheng, mayor of Haikou, provincial capital of the southernmost province of Hainan, at a recent mayors' forum held in Guangzhou.

The Pan-PRD Provincial Capital City Mayors' Forum made its debut in Guangzhou earlier this month.

"Haikou is glad to become the backyard garden of the Pearl River Delta cities of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, making itself a popular tourism destination as well as important vegetable and fruit base for those cities.'

The mayor said that Haikou's strategy to reposition itself is based on the fact the city still has a long way to catch up with the economic development of the Pearl River Delta, which is one of the nation's strongest economic powerhouses, not to speak of Hong Kong or Macao.

And the Pearl River Delta has set a good example for Haikou of how a local economy can benefit from industrial transfers, he said.

Thanks to the industrial transfer of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan early in the 1980's when the nation's opening policy was in its infancy, the Pearl River Delta secured a great number of investment projects, and developed into "the world's manufacturing plant.'

Industries ranging from household appliances, electronics, timepieces, furniture, garments, jewellery, foodstuff and beverages, lighting apparatus, toys, metallurgical processing, to chemicals enjoyed rapid and sustained development.

The Pearl River Delta has been busily upgrading its industries, the mayor said.

He said securing the maximum number of projects concerning the industrial transfer will help the industrial development of Haikou and push the city to make the best out of its geographical and natural resources.

Future investments are expected to go primarily to industry -- including tourism, ecological agriculture, aviation, real estate, logistics and others.

And the city will step up construction of industrial parks -- including the Mei'an Industrial Park, Guangdong Industrial Park, Hong Kong Industrial Park specifically for potential projects.

Apart from Haikou, provincial capital cities in the Pan-PRD region have also strongly hoped to benefit from the industrial transfer of the Pearl River Delta cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Hu Zucai, vice-mayor of Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou Province, added that investments on the part of industrial transfer are expected to become one of the most important resources of capital inputs for Guiyang.

Guiyang's energy supply, rich mineral resources, low labour cost, and market potential will become pluses for investors, Hu added.

What's more, the vice-mayor said, Guiyang will be able to learn more from the advanced management techniques, an open minded attitude and forward thinking of the business people from the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong and Macao.

Official statistics show that business people from the Pearl River Delta region invested 4.61 billion yuan (US$555.18 million) in 2003 in 127 projects in Guiyang..

And Guangzhou's business people signed contracts for 41 investment projects in Guiyang during an investment promotion seminar organized by the municipal government of Guiyang earlier this month. Their total investments reached 8.28 billion yuan (US$998.07 million).

Hu's view is also shared by senior officials of the Pan-PRD capital cities -- including Fuzhou, Changsha, Nanchang, Chengdu, Kunming and Nanning.

The Pan-PRD capital cities have vowed to forge closer co-operative ties to capitalize on their complementary advantages.

According to the co-operation agreement signed by the Pan-PRD capital cities during the high-profile forum, the cities will join forces in the fields of the application, research and development and information technology, transportation network planning, economy and trade and logistics, tertiary industries including finance and tourism, human resources development and management, culture, sanitation and education.

They will work together to rationalize regional planning in industries such as energy, raw materials, electronics, automobile and equipment manufacturing, new types of building materials, petrochemical industry, high-efficiency agriculture and medicine, in a bid to sharpen the competitive edge of the manufacturing industry in the Pan-PRD region as a whole.

They will also move to clear the obstacles including the local protective policies for regional co-operations.

The capital cities inked co-operative contracts for 942 projects, involving capital input of 140.69 billion yuan (US$16.95 billion) during the forum.

The Pan-PRD regional co-operation was initiated last July.

The initial economic and trade co-operative seminar was held here in July, during which contracts were signed for 847 co-operative projects, involving capital input of 292.60 billion yuan (US$35.25 billion).

Editor: Donald