Hong Kong senior leader Donald Tsang said Monday that the PPRD (Pan Pearl River Delta) cooperation is a long-term task demanding "confidence, courage, patience and efforts" on a forum seeking closer links among the nine mainland provinces and China's two special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macao encompassed in the PPRD framework.

The Hong Kong Chief Executive (CE) highlighted the specific strengths of the 11 PPRD members but warned underestimation of the difficulties in further deepening cooperation and promoting integration in the southern region due to huge differences among members in terms of economic development and societal arrangements.

Addressing the Second PPRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum being held in Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province on Monday, Tsang said further development of the PPRD framework hinged on coordinating resources of varied parties, opening the regional market and facilitating free flow of economic elements.

The Hong Kong CE also said it was critical to enhance capabilities of PPRD members, particularly those located in central and western regions, in attracting and absorbing external resources such as capital and human resources.

"China's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO), implementation of CEPA and establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone combined to provide PPRD members more momentum to utilize international resources," said Tsang.

While expressing much confidence in the PPRD framework, he said the Hong Kong business circle also encountered obstacles in exploring the mainland market.

"The business circle hopes the market regulatory environment on the mainland could be further improved, and legal transparency and consistency enhanced," said Tsang.

According to Tsang, it is also a must to establish a "strict, standard and effective" regional cooperation mechanism in the pan Pearl River Delta and further popularize the spirit of "complying with contract".

The PPRD notion, seeking closer economic ties among Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hong Kong and Macao, was first launched by south China's Guangdong Province in 2003 and attracted increasing attention since then.

As China's largest regional economic entity, the PPRD occupies 20 percent of the national land, homes over one third of the national population and contributes to more than 40 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product.

Editor: Yan