Hong Kong and Guangdong Province decided in Guangzhou on Friday to set cooperation on the modern information service industry as the focus of the coming year to promote the development of the related industries in both places, a government press release said.

According to a press release from the Information Services Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, the Hong Kong/Guangdong Expert Group on Cooperation in Informatization held its third meeting in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province. The meeting was co-chaired by the Deputy Government Chief Information Officer (Operation) Stephen Mak, and the Director-General of the Department of Information Industry of Guangdong Province Wen Guo-hui.

At the meeting, Hong Kong reviewed progress of 2007 in co-operation in informatization with the Department of Information Industry Department and nine other government departments of Guangdong Province. The group's work plan for the coming year was also discussed and agreed.

"The governments in both places attach great importance to co-operation in informatization. In the 2008 Digital 21 Strategy promulgated last December by the HKSAR government, Guangdong and Hong Kong's co-operation in informatization is one of the major work areas," Mak said.

"In the past year, both places worked together in various fields related to the information technology (IT) industry and informatization in particular in promoting the testing of mutual recognition of digital certificates issued by Guangdong and the HKSAR, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications, software outsourcing service and open source software," he added.

"Apart from close collaboration between government bodies, the IT industries of the two places also explored co-operation opportunities through organizing different exchange activities," Mak said.

In the coming year, the expert group will place emphasis on the modern information service industry, and strengthen co-operation in various areas including the pilot testing of applications using digital certificates issued by Guangdong and the HKSAR, research and development and application of RFID, electronic customs clearance, service outsourcing, digital entertainment, mobile and wireless technology application and information exchange platform.

The expert group was formed under the aegis of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference. The eighth plenary of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference held in September 2005 agreed to establish a new task force on co-operation in informatization. The group meets once a year to report on its work progress and set the direction for future co-operation.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2008)