Guangdong will push to form a closer, freer integration of nine provinces of south China together with Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR into a Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) common market, Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua said.

Huang made the remarks ahead of the opening of a high-profile PPRD Regional Co-operation and Development Forum in Hong Kong today (May 31).

Zhang Dejiang, Secretary of Guangdong Provincial CPC committee who was the first to advocate the PPRD concept last October on the advice of foreign consultants, will attend today's forum.

Huang said PPRD regional co-operation must be pushed by the ``9 (mainland provinces/regions) + 2 (SARs)'' governments which need to create a good environment for market operation.

He said, the 9 + 2 governments have reached agreement on co-operation in 10 fields: infrastructure; industry and investment; commerce and trade; tourism; agriculture; labour; science, education and culture; information technology; environment; and public health and disease prevention.

Guangdong will work with the other mainland provinces/regions to solidify their regulations governing market operations, Huang said, adding that the objective is to create a fair, open, competitive and orderly market environment.

The long-term goal is for the 9 mainland provinces/regions to form a no-barrier common market, Huang was quoted by the Nanfang Daily, the official newspaper of the Guangdong party committee.

By a common market, Huang means that rules governing market operation in this region will be the same.

In China, because of unbalanced development and local protectionism, market access in the regions is governed by differing rules. Rules governing market operations in individual provinces also vary. For instance, special economic zones like Shenzhen are much more open to foreign investment and trade.

Hong Kong Trade Development Council executive director Fred Lam said without elaborating that the ultimate goal of economic co-operation in the PPRD should be that the 9 + 2 forms a unified single market.

If the 9+2 can form a single market in the long run for the free flow of capital, products, services and personnel, the PPRD economic zone will be of great significance and value, Lam said at a forum hosted by the Central Policy Unit on May 20.

However, even if the mainland provinces/regions form a single market without the special administrative region, Hong Kong would benefit, he said.

He suggested that the 9 mainland provinces/regions negotiate on unified market access so if one gives a third party market access, the other eight must do the same.

That would benefit Hong Kong because the other eight provinces would also open their market to Hong Kong's services, like Guangdong under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, according to Lam.

Editor: Donald