Guangdong Packaging Technology Association, the Hong Kong Packaging Institute and the Association of Advertising Agents of Macau have recently struck a deal to work more closely.

One of their latest moves is a packaging industrial summit held recently in Guangzhou for the packaging business people to compare notes with government officials and experts on the national and regional policies involved, marketing experience and future co-operation fields and prospects.

"Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, for the geographical proximity, have already forged very close co-operative ties in the packaging industry. Further co-operative efforts will be win-win for all sides and will help them benefit from the complementary advantages," said Pang Shubao, president of Guangdong Packaging Technology Association.

"The massive packaging capacity in Guangdong, and its Pearl River Delta region in particular, the state-of-the-art technological solutions for the packaging industry, the timely global market information and business orders in Hong Kong and Macau are among the advantages that can be made good use of," he said.

Pang proposed that the three sides should join hands to optimize the industrial layout to capitalize on the respective advantages besides industrial exchanges, which was advocated by senior executives of both the Hong Kong Packaging Institute and the Association of Advertising Agents of Macau.

Official statistics indicate that Guangdong's packaging industry raked in gross industrial output of about 100 billion yuan in 2006, making up 16.7 percent of the nation's total.

Paper packaging products contributed 25 billion yuan; packing prints, 26 billion yuan; plastic packaging products, 34 billion; metal packaging products, 8 billion yuan; packaging machinery, 1.6 billion yuan; and glass packaging products, 1.8 billion yuan.

Guangdong has more than 6,000 packaging firms of varied scales, many of which are funded by investors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau and are located in the Pearl River Delta cities including Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Over 30 of the packaging enterprises in the province realized sales volume of over 100 million yuan in 2006.

Editor: Yan