A delegation of high-level business leaders from Hong Kong and the US met with Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang in Guangdong to discuss business opportunities in energy conservation and environmental technology. The aim of the meeting was to help transform Guangdong into a technology-centred economy through cooperation between the US companies and Guangdong government.

While capital markets reform in the PRC and business potential in the mainland’s energy and environmental sectors were the focuses of the meeting, the strengthening of economic integration between Hong Kong and the PRC, plus the mainland’s role in introducing technology and environmental protection partners to the PRC market, were also discussed. The meeting was evidence of the Guangdong government’s eagerness to create closer business ties with Hong Kong in order to boost the domestic economy, but also their determination to turn the highly polluted manufacturing hub into one of the cleanest cities in the PRC.

Members of the Hong Kong-US Business Council joined the Guangdong meeting right after the Hong Kong-US Business Council’s 21st Plenary Session in Hong Kong. Marjorie Yang, Chairman of the Esquel Group, chaired the Hong Kong section and said that the cooperation between Hong Kong, Guangdong, and the Greater Pearl River Delta will definitely boost national economic development. She believed that apart from the manufacturing sector, there is room for Hong Kong-Guangdong’s cooperation in the service sector, entertainment industries and cultural properties.