China's southern Guangdong province and Hong Kong jointly staged a business and technology cooperation conference on Tuesday in the Spanish capital to boost their business ties with Europe.

The opening ceremony drew some 1,800 businessmen and officials, including Spanish Minister of Industry, Tourism and Commerce Miguel Sebastian Gascon, Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua, Chinese Ambassador to Spain Qiu Xiaoqi, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Rita Lau.

On the first day of the gathering, agreements on 27 projects with a total value of US$2 billion were signed.

Trade between Guangdong and Spain topped more than US$4.9 billion in 2007, accounting for 23.6 percent of the total trade volume between China and Spain, Huang said in a speech.

Spain is a key EU member and has played a significant role in promoting China-EU economic and trade cooperation, the governor said.

"The Guangdong provincial government will encourage more import from Spain and support Spanish businesses' entry into the Chinese market," he said.

Guangdong will support the expansion of cooperation between medium and small Spanish businesses and their Guangdong counterparts to achieve win-win results, he said.

Lau said at the gathering that Hong Kong has close business links with Spain, with two-way trade totaling 2.2 billion euros (US$2.8 billion) last year.

Nearly 100 Spanish companies have businesses in Hong Kong, mostly in the financial, logistics, commercial and fashion industries, Lau said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2008)