Cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong is expected to further strengthen after a high-level delegation led by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying meets leaders of the neighboring province on Wednesday.

Closer cooperation across the border will not merely benefit service-oriented Hong Kong while strengthening the Pearl River Delta region, the leading economic powerhouse on the mainland. Collaboration is also in-line with the national development strategy. In the central government's ongoing efforts to rebalance the country's economic growth, it has emphasized a development strategy that vigorously promotes the growth of mainland service industries during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, with a target of raising the service industry's contribution to GDP by 4 percent during the period.

Hong Kong's numerous financial and professional services providers, who are fiercely competing against each other in the tiny local market, will find lots of more opportunities to expand their business across the border by leveraging on their relative advantages.

Aside from economic benefits, closer cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong province is also vital for the city's efforts to clean its air, given the fact that the Pearl River Delta region is one of the major manufacturing bases on the mainland. Other issues arising from the interactions between Hong Kong and Shenzhen such as the parallel trader problem could also be better handled with both sides joining hands.

The stage for closer cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland, particularly Guangdong province, has been set via a series of policy frameworks, including the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and its supplements, the Framework Agreement on Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation, as well as the new supporting policies and measures announced by Vice-Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Hong Kong in August 2011. The leaders of Hong Kong and Guangdong province are expected to work out plans to implement the relevant policies during their meetings and discussions.

(HK Edition 02/06/2013 page1)