More than 500 deals worth more than 200 billion yuan (US$24.1 billion) are expected to be signed today, the first day of the First Pan-PRD Regional Economic and Trade Co-operation Fair in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.

More than 15,000 people, including entrepreneurs and government officials from nine provinces in southern China, Hong Kong and Macao are attending the four-day fair at the Guangzhou International Convention Center.

The region, also known as "9+2," encompasses the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, Guangxi, and Hong Kong and Macao.

Guangdong has 5,000 people in 40 delegations attending the fair.

Government officials would sign agreements for closer cooperation in transport, power, tourism, environmental protection and implementation of the CEPA, a free trade pact signed between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, Xu Shangwu, deputy secretary-general of Guangdong Provincial Government said at a conference Monday.

You Ningfeng, vice governor of Guangdong, said the fair would greatly promote regional cooperation especially in tourism, transport and environmental protection.

You said the construction of a cross-provincial highway network was a long-term plan with the network connecting neighboring provinces.

The regional cooperation between Guangdong and Hunan enterprises was increasing. A-best, a superstore in Shenzhen, had opened a store in Changsha.

From 1999 to 2003, Guangdong investment accounted for 30percent of the investment in Hunan with over 2,000 projects. The two provinces share a bright future in the fields of power, infrastructure construction and real estate.

Editor: Catherine