The PRD
January 8, 2009 by Chinatex
I was wondering if the phenomenon of speaking about oneself in the first person is limited to U.S. athletes or if it happens in other countries where I can’t understand what they are saying, like the English Premier League. The reason I was thinking this is because Chinatex told y’all (you all) last year that changes were in the future for the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The PRD is basically southern China consisting of Guangdong province, Macau and Hong Kong and has been called the world’s factory. Just drive or take the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou and you will know what old Chinatex means. Anyway, Chinatex told you that the new labor laws and changes in foreign investment rules and cross border capital flow were just the foundation for big things in the PRD and that easier and cheaper trade is the goal. Maybe even free trade and elimination of VAT and other duties. Now, Chinatex doesn’t have a direct line to the policy makers, but these articles below will give you an idea of what’s to come. For those of you planning to enter China and those of us already in the PRD, Chinatex can only imagine the possibilities. Yee ha! Chinatex
PRD repositioned as China’s ‘reform test field’
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-08 11:30
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-01/08/content_7379716.htm
Pearl River Delta, the former vanguard of China’s economic reform, will stand to be the new test field for the country to deepen economic reform and open itself wider to the outside world, the country’s top economic planner said Thursday. Under a plan released Thursday by the National Development and Reform Commission, the delta together with Hong Kong and Macao will be forged into “a globally competitive” and “the most vigorous area in the Asia-Pacific region” by 2020.
Beijing reveals blueprint for delta’s economic growth |
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The central government has for the first time outlined a long-term development blueprint for economic co-operation and interaction in the Pearl River Delta region among Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong.Speaking at a media briefing on reform and development of the Pearl River Delta until 2020, Du Ying, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, also revealed that the central government would provide 5 billion yuan (HK$5.68 billion) towards the cost of building a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.
Mr Du said the funding was unprecedented and construction would begin this year. Under the plan, the Pearl River Delta would become “globally competitive” and the “most vigorous area in the Asia-Pacific region” by 2020. “We believe that further strengthening of close co-operation among Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong is a prerequisite for overcoming the difficulties of the current economic crisis and realising new development,” Mr Du said. He said the plan was a comprehensive and complete strategy for the enhancement of economic co-operation among the three regions. Under the plan, Guangdong “will pursue convergence with Hong Kong and Macau in terms of urban planing, rail transit networks, information networks, energy base networks and urban water supply”. It also calls for accelerated construction of cross-border transport and infrastructure projects. The development plan aimed to strengthen industrial co-operation and explore co-operation in education, culture, health care and social security. Mr Du said the delta, once in the vanguard of the mainland’s capitalist economic reforms, would continue in its role as a test bed for the country’s deepening reforms and opening to the outside world. Guangdong’s economic output exceeded that of Taiwan in 2007 for the first time, topping 3.06 trillion yuan (US$448 billion), representing one-eighth of the mainland’s total, he said. The province surpassed Singapore and Hong Kong in 1998 and 2003, respectively. However, Huang Longyun, Guangdong’s executive vice-governor, said at the same briefing that provincial economic growth slowed sharply last year as exports plunged amid the global downturn, closing factories and sparking an exodus of migrant workers. Growth in provincial gross domestic product slowed to 10.1 per cent in 2008 from 14.7 per cent a year earlier, while export growth tumbled to 5.6 per cent last year from 22.3 per cent in 2007, he said. “The situation is grim,” Mr Huang said. Mr Huang said 62,400 companies in the province went out of business last year. Most were small firms in the delta in traditional industries. As a result, about 600,000 migrant workers had left the province. |
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