The Government has welcomed the National Development & Reform Commission's release of the Framework for Development & Reform Planning for the Pearl River Delta Region, which reaffirms Hong Kong's status as a financial centre.

The framework supports the expansion of co-operation areas that can be decided among Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau under the central authorities' guidance.

The framework also supports delta enterprises' listing on the Hong Kong stock market to fully demonstrate the city's status as a financial centre.

The Government will take forward the framework's suggestion of encouraging the delta region to plan with Hong Kong and Macau. It will discuss follow-up action with Guangdong soon.

Key issues 

The Government said strengthening co-operation between Hong Kong and Guangdong has become increasingly important and the three most important tasks are:

* to further the Hong Kong services industry's development in the delta region and Guangdong;

* to work closely with the delta region to ensure clear division of work, reasonable layout and complementarities in developing ports and airports, with a view to maintaining Hong Kong's status as an important port and civil aviation hub in Asia; and,

* to continue to play the role of an international financial centre, to promote the development of Hong Kong's financial industry and assist the trade in exploring development opportunities on the Mainland.