Guangdong and Hong Kong are equally concerned over the quality of air because people in both the places breathe the same air.

Chief Executive (CE) Donald Tsang said this as he led a delegation to the neighbouring province yesterday.

The remark underlines the main theme of his trip this time - environmental protection. His itinerary was totally in line with this theme as he started the day with a visit to a coal-fired power station at Shajiao, Dongguan, the biggest of its kind in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region.

His main interest in the power plant was its desulphurization system which, when completed four years later, would cut down its carbon dioxide emission by 90 per cent. With the facility only an hour's drive from Hong Kong, its success (or otherwise) in reducing emission is critical to the SAR's clean air campaign.

Tsang did tell the plant manager how much the success of their emission control project meant to the air quality of the region.

The CE then paid a visit to a Hong Kong-funded toy and electrical appliance factory in Dongguan. There he studied the facilities that had helped reduce emission of pollutants in the air and water.

Briefing the media at White Swan Hotel later, Tsang said Guangdong authorities might offer incentives to prompt Hong Kong factory owners in the PRD region to adopt green measures. The move will help factory owners overcome implementation difficulties.

Tsang recounted his visits to the Shajiao power station and the toy factory to see measures taken by the province to improve the air quality, and praised their efforts in cutting emissions.

He said efforts to achieve regional emission reduction targets by 2010 are making good progress and that Hong Kong and Guangdong have the same goal of improving air quality despite the difference in the pace of their economic development.

"(Guangdong and Hong Kong) share the same goal, namely, we both want to improve the environment, improve air quality. We breathe the same air. I know Guangdong Province leaders are very concerned about this matter, and the degree of their concern is no less than ours," Tsang said.

"We have set the emission target for 2010, and I am very confident that we could achieve them," he stressed.

Factory owners should deepen their environmental knowledge and adopt green measures to improve the region's air and water quality, he said. This will help boost the region's economic development and their products' competitive edge.

On the emission trading scheme, Tsang said it had been designed to help companies meet the reduction target at a minimal cost.

Emissions from Hong Kong's power companies are regarded as a main source of air pollution. To ensure that they comply with the standard norms, conditions can be considered and applied while renewing their scheme of control, which will expire in 2008.

Guangdong leaders

In the evening Tsang met Guangdong Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang and Governor Huang Huahua. Zhang said that cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong would create a win-win situation.

Hong Kong's economic condition today is better than it has ever been since its reunification with the motherland, he said. That is the result of the joint effort of the Hong Kong government and the people under Tsang's leadership.

Cooperation between the province and the SAR over the past few years has been on a complementary basis, and both places should adopt a development strategy that is forward-looking, pragmatic and mutually beneficial, he said.

Tsang said that apart from improving the air quality, the 9th Plenary of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference today would also discuss bilateral cooperation.

Editor: Yan