Representatives from the mainland's eastern manufacturing powerhouse of Zhejiang are in Hong Kong this week to promote business cooperation between the affluent province and the Special Administrative Region at various venues in the city.

Co-organized by the Zhejiang provincial government and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, a series of business, travel and cultural activities collectively named "2010 Zhejiang Week" was opened yesterday.

Zhejiang Week was designed to be an exchange platform to tap Hong Kong's abundance in capital and expertise as a service-based economy.

During today and tomorrow, meetings introducing general development and specific projects in logistics, finance and other service sectors will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Hotel and the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong.

A forum is scheduled for tomorrow at the Grand Hyatt to discuss how to improve the competitiveness of private enterprises.

Targeting the general public, a tourism promotion will take place at Plaza Hollywood tomorrow. New tourism packages will be released and special discounts will be given out.

Gong Zheng, vice governor of Zhejiang who headed the delegation, said there are many areas for Hong Kong and Zhejiang to cooperate in at a press briefing yesterday.

"As an international financial, trading, shipping, logistics and high-value added service center, Hong Kong has plenty of capital and also boasts a financial and management talent pool. Zhejiang, on the other hand, has well-developed industries and a sizable consumer market," he said.

With a per capita GDP of $6,000, the Yangtze River Delta province is one of the wealthiest provinces on the mainland and is famed for its private enterprises, which account for over 70 percent of the province's GDP.

The theme of "2010 Zhejiang Week", reprising Zhejiang Weeks in 2004, 2005 and 2006, is the service industries.

Zhejiang enterprises are striving to upgrade themselves from their niche as low-end manufacturers competing on cost alone. The goal has been accentuated by the global economic crisis, which has caused a two-digit slide in the export sector, said Gong.

"Currently, Zhejiang enterprises are in urgent need of support from the service sectors, such as finance, logistics, design, research and development, accounting, and management consulting," he said.

(HK Edition 01/12/2010 page4)