At last month's Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce-South China Morning Post conference titled: "Pearl River Delta: Forging a New Force" -- which attracted almost 500 delegates -- an impressive group of speakers from government, business, academia and community interest groups from across the PRD made an unanimous plea for closer ties between the HKSAR and its immediate hinterland. The participants highlighted the immense range of difficult issues to be tackled, the political and bureaucratic barriers to be broken down, the planning and infrastructure needs, the work that businesses need to do themselves, and the potential social and environmental impacts and immense economic benefits that might flow from greater integration.

As our Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said in opening the conference, the Hong Kong SAR, together with its immediate neighbours, had to seize the opportunity to create the right environment and to build the physical infrastructure to make greater integration happen. It was, he said, an opportunity to create wealth for the people of the region and to make the PRD more competitive, both regionally and globally. "We need to promote Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta together because the future of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta is totally tied together," he said.

Future visions of being a regional logistics hub, a technology/manufacturing centre, and a springboard for Hong Kong to get into the interior of China all depend on closer PRD integration. The combination of Hong Kong's capital, global knowledge and business and managerial skills, together with the Mainland's abundant land and labour, is an unbeatable win-win combination in competing in the global marketplace. And as opposed to what some critics claim, everyone needs to play its part in the delta. No one is "begging" from anyone else.

The task now is to determine how to move forward with integration as swiftly as possible. Our past economic co-operation provides a sound basis for future, broader links. The obvious commitment of the various administrations and communities within the PRD -- clearly evident in the HKGCC-SCMP conference -- is a positive sign. On a broader canvas, so, too, is the Mainland_s continued opening, its entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the prospects offered by the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), now being negotiated between the HKSAR and the Mainland.

To date, Hong Kong and the PRD have both gained from their joint focus on regional industrial development and investment, and the production of goods for global export markets. But, mainly for historic and political reasons, this has been achieved as two separate entities, each operating in their own interests. Now is the time to embark on a far broader economic integration and co-operation, with each operating in the interests of the other and in the pursuit of the greater economic good of the entire region.

Your Chamber strongly supports this process. We want to see the PRD develop further as an integrated economic powerhouse in the Mainland, regional, and global economic contexts. At the same time, we do not underestimate the challenges confronting us in the pursuit of this aim. There are sensitivities related to the "one country, two systems" formula and the requirements of the Basic Law that must be dealt with carefully. The border must remain sacrosanct. Greater co-operation and co-ordination of planning and policies between the various administrations within the PRD, with the support of the Central Government, will need sensitive handling. At the end of the day, when barriers can be tackled, businesses have to do their part in accordance with free market forces. How to strike the delicate balance between the responsibilities and roles of government and the private sector in future development is probably the most difficult task of all. Sometimes we will need governmental co-ordination, but sometimes we need the free market to work.

Some ideas on moving forward are: strengthening the role of the Hong Kong-Guangdong joint forum and increasing the frequency of working level contacts -- especially to keep everyone informed of infrastructural developments; establishing a new Pearl River Delta Council to exchange information on each city's plans and aspirations; widening informal contacts such as the one initiated by the Hong Kong Airport Authority with four other airports in the region; increase and deepen private sector counterpart contacts. Finally, the Central Government -- in the form of the State Development and Planning Commission and the Hong Kong Macao Affairs Office, the Guangdong government, the PRD cities, and Hong Kong -- all have to be cognizant of the need for better and closer integration.

The Chamber believes that the pursuit of greater economic integration is both urgent and logical. The rest of the world will not stand still while we debate the finer points of practical co-operation. To date, we have been impressed with the new commitment there appears to be on all sides to the greater integration goal, including the more business-like and practical approach adopted by the HKSAR administration. We urge all of those with power within the SAR and the PRD to move ahead swiftly -- and in step with each other and the private sector -- with the delta's development. It is the key to greater development and prosperity in our immediate region.