Greater Pearl River Delta: During the 20 years after opening up, thousands of businessmen of Hong Kong and Macao come to Guangdong, especially the Pearl River Delta, to invest or establish factories, injecting tremendous vitality into Guangdong¡¯s economy. Now, close connection of the three regions has made them into an inseparable ¡°economic ecological zone¡±. They are coming into a new phase of more economic cooperation and more inter-reliance.Pushed by CEPA, the three regions will be more closely connected, forming a pattern of win-win cooperation, complementary advantages and coordinated development: there will be more cooperation in the field of infrastructure construction, better utilization of foreign investment in service industry, quicker development in manufacturing and logistics, and increase of economic flow. As the process of economic integration speeds up obviously, these regions will certainly become more competitive.

Pan Pearl River Delta: Pan Pearl River Delta includes 9 provinces and 2 special administrative regions. They are Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hong Kong and Macao (abbreviated as ¡°9 plus 2¡±). Pan PRD is surely the largest and widest regional combination in China.Every province of Pan PRD possesses abundant resources and industries with its own distinct feature; hence a complementary economic relationship and highly frequent trade cooperation among them. Now, an economic region with various functions, close cooperation between sectors and economic integration to some extent, are gradually taking shape. With the promotion of the construction of China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone and the implementation of CEPA, the Pan PRD will become one of the most dynamic regions in world economy.During the process of regional cooperation in the Pan PRD, Guangdong is a bridge, a pioneer and a radiator of vast power, making efforts to become a center of transportation and economic radiation, model of open market system, regional finance center, logistics center, base of deep processing and manufacture, center for absorbing labor force, center of energy demand, center of scientific innovation, exchange & cooperation center of the Pearl River culture.

Economic and Trade Cooperation between Guangdong and ASEAN: The two regions¡¯ economy is complementary; each enjoys its own advantage of rational allocation of resources. As China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone continues to be promoted, the cooperation between Guangdong and the markets surrounding ASEAN will further be carried forward. In 2006, the total import-export value between them reached US$ 44.15 billion, growing by 19.6%, about 8.4% of the total foreign trade value of the whole province.Besides, as the hub of logistics in southern China, even in central-southern and southern-western China; adjoining to Hong Kong and Macao; Guangdong has developed commerce and trade supporting system. All of these advantages make Guangdong a gathering and distributing center of goods lying between China¡¯s inland provinces and ASEAN. On Jan. 14, 2007, the Agreement on Trade of Services of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was entered into by China and ASEAN. It is a significant result in bilateral economic and trade cooperation and sets a firm foundation for the establishment of the free trade area. While the establishment of the free trade area is speeded up, the trade and investment volume between Guangdong and ASEAN will continue to increase rapidly.

(Source:  Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Guangdong Province)