A 45-member Chamber delegation led by HKGCC China Committee Chairman Stanley Hui and Vice Chairman David Lie recently returned from a three-day mission to Guangzhou and Shenzhen to study ways to boost economic development and integration between Hong Kong and the two cities.

During their meeting with Vice Secretary-General of the Guangdong Provincial Government, Huang Yebin, and Shenzhen Vice Mayor, Zhuo Qinrui, delegates learned that the high technology and services sectors are expected to be the main areas of growth for both Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Mr Huang, who oversees Guangdong-Hong Kong economic co-operation in the Guangdong Provincial Government, told delegates that he sees a promising future for the economic integration between Hong Kong and Guangdong. Instead of competing with each other, Hong Kong and Guangdong should be looking to complement each other in economic development to arrive at the mutually beneficial goal of sharpening the competitiveness of the Pearl River Delta as a whole, he said.

To that end, he added that the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Planning Commission have jointly set up a special organization to work out ways to avoid duplicating infrastructure projects in the region. It can also provide guidance for both Hong Kong and Guangdong to improve coordination in future economic planning.

Delegates said they shared Mr Huang's vision for a bright future for Hong Kong and the PRD region, in which they see Hong Kong's financial and management experience complementing the rich source of raw materials and human resources of the PRD.

Under the "Tenth Five Year Plan" in Guangdong, Mr Huang said the province is vigorously expanding its infrastructure facilities, education resources and technology base.

Guangzhou, a traditional industrial base in the Mainland and a transportation hub for southern China, is also working hard to improve its infrastructure and soft investment environment. The city will also start opening its service sector industries to foreign investors in accordance with China's WTO commitments. As a result, it will further open its telecom, retail, insurance and tourism industries in the near future.

Delegates said they believed all these sectors offered great opportunities for Hong Kong businesses to tap, and that easier access to such sectors would open a new era of trade and economic co-operation between Hong Kong and Guangzhou.