The 2019 Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Cooperation Chief Executive Joint Meeting was held in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi province on September 6th.

The Pan-Pearl-River Delta region includes nine provinces: Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.

Consisting of one-fifth of China’s landmass, one-third of the country’s population and one-third of the economic volume, the region has displayed tremendous economic vitality and huge potential for development.

The meeting was presided over by Chen Wu, executive chairman of the conference and chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and attended by governors and chairmen of nine provinces from the Chinese mainland, as well as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Cheng Yuet-ngor and Macao SAR officials.

At the meeting, government officials pointed out that the PPRD region should seize the opportunities provided by the development of the Greater Bay Area and support for developing Shenzhen into a pilot demonstration area for ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’, and reinforce cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, in-depth industrial collaboration, tourism, market integration, and ecology.

The PPRD Chief Executive Joint Meeting was held in Guangzhou in 2018, and since last year’s meeting the PPRD has achieved a great deal in terms of industrial collaboration, market construction, and infrastructure development.

A consensus was reached at the meeting that the 2020 PPRD Chief Executive Joint Meeting will be held in Hainan.

The PPRD, China's largest economic bloc, also known as "9+2", was established in 2004 and has been effectively boosting cooperation and development throughout the region.

Author: Monica Liu

Editors: Wing Zhang, Simon Haywood