Chief Executive Donald Tsang yesterday called upon enterprises of Guizhou Province to take advantage of Hong Kong as a financing platform as he started the second day of his tour in Guiyang.

Speaking at the "Hong Kong-Guizhou Business Cooperation Symposium", Tsang said that "development in the province's many different industries, no matter whether it is tourism, infrastructure, traditional Chinese medicine or mining, has entered a capital-driven stage."

Hong Kong has a vibrant stock market and has become the first choice for mainland companies looking for fund-raising platforms, Tsang said, calling upon Guizhou to leverage on this strength of Hong Kong. As of October, 355 mainland enterprises had been listed in the city's stock market, with a total of HK$1.39 trillion raised.

The CE also said the two places could step up cooperation in such areas as tourism, infrastructure and development of traditional Chinese medicine.

He called on Hong Kong and Guizhou businesses to capitalize on the opportunities brought under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and Pan-Pearl River Delta Cooperation schemes to strengthen trade ties.

Also speaking at the symposium, acting Guizhou Governor Lin Shusen said since Hong Kong was an international finance, trade and shipping centre and the portal through which visitors and investors from different parts of the world entered the mainland, cooperation between the province and the SAR must be strengthened.

The most important thing to do at the moment, he pointed out, is to expedite the expressways linking Guizhou with the Pearl River Delta so as to shorten the distance and minimize travelling time.

Apart from participating in the symposium, the CE visited the Guizhou University in the morning with some members of the delegation who were in the field of manpower training in the tourism industry.

Summing up the visit in an afternoon meeting with Hong Kong media, Tsang described the Guizhou trip as an attempt to lay a firm foundation for Hong Kong's cooperation with the Pearl River Delta region and extend the scope for collaboration.

"I believe Hong Kong's business sector will be able to find a lot of business opportunities when Guizhou develops its tourist industry," he concluded.

In the afternoon the Hong Kong delegation, led by the CE, made an excursion tour to the Huangguoshu Falls, the most spectacular waterfalls in the country, where they stayed for about 15 minutes.