Guangzhou: South China's Guangdong Province will do more this year to strengthen its ties with Hong Kong and Macao through partnerships in industry, science, environment, education and health, said a senior government official.

Guangdong Provincial Governor Huang Huahua reiterated the strategic importance for the province to forge even closer cooperations with Hong Kong and Macao during a conference on the province's foreign trade and economic cooperation held on Wednesday in Guangzhou.

"The cooperations with Hong Kong and Macao have been fruitful in the past few years," said the provincial governor. "The province will work more closely with them in the manufacturing industry, the tertiary industry and the infrastructure development related to port customs passage in 2006."

Cooperation in environmental protection, tourism, science and technology, education and health will also be strengthened.

He said that the province will seek more policy supports from the State to lure more business people in Hong Kong and Macao to the province for more involvement in the new and high-tech industries and modern service industries of logistics, financial service, insurance, accountancy and law service.

Moreover, the province will offer tax incentives to Hong Kong and Macao business people who would like to invest in the mountainous areas of the province.

He said that the province will do its part to boost the improvement of the working mechanism among the governments of the three sides, jointly tapping global markets, dealing with anti-dumping problems and promoting investment climates in some key countries and regions abroad.

The cooperative infrastructure projects to be highlighted in 2006 include the Shenzhen Gulf Port, Futian Port, the special port for the Zhuhai and Macao Industrial Zone, and the preparatory work for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Other projects include those related to the Dongguan-Hong Kong express cargo railway service, Jiangmen-Hong Kong helicopter service and the Zhuhai-Hong Kong airport passenger transport by sea, according to Liang Yaowen, director-general of Guangdong Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Department.

Liang said that the "self-service" customs passage system for Hong Kong and Macao residents to come in and out of the province will be improved and applied more widely in 2006.

And the province will make greater efforts to improve the business climate in Guangdong including further simplifying procedures for investors and organizing tailor-made seminars on topics of interest to business people from the three sides.

The province's economic cooperations with Hong Kong and Macao have flourished even more in the past couple of years thanks to the implementation of Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).

Hong Kong and Macao investors set up 1,720 enterprises in the province in 2005, involving contractual investments of US$3.52 billion, up 25.8 per cent from 2004, according to the latest official statistics.

And Guangdong business people set up 60 enterprises in Hong Kong and Macao in 2005, involving a contractual investment of US$238 million.

Guangdong's business people have set up 836 enterprises in total in Hong Kong and Macao, and their contractual capital inputs have added up to US$2.93 billion.

In addition, the province's imports and exports with Hong Kong and Macao were worth US$296.66 billion in 2005, an increase of 16 per cent from 2004.

Official statistics indicate Guangdong saw exports worth US$238.16 billion in 2005, up 24.3 per cent from 2004; and imports, US$189.82 billion, up 14.7 per cent.

Last year, 8,384 foreign direct projects were set up in the province, with contractual capitals rising 22.6 per cent to US$23.74 billion and committed investment rising 20 per cent to US$12 billion.

Editor: Yan