II. General Requirements and Developmental Goals

1. Guiding Ideas

Holding high the great banner of the socialism with Chinese characteristics, following the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important "Three-represents" thought, the region will implement the scientific outlook on development, pursue further ideological liberation, carry on the reform and opening-up, and stive to become the bellwether in exercising the scientific outlook on development. The region will concentrate on building a modern industrial system and speeding up the transformation of its development pattern to take a lead in building a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society; promoting scientific and technological progresses and strengthening the abilities of independent innovation to take a lead in developing an innovation-oriented region; resolving the prominent problems bearing on the livelihood of the people and promoting balanced development between rural and urban areas to take the lead in building a harmonious socialist society; deepening the system reform and bravely promoting the innovation of systems and mechanisms to take the lead in building a complete and sound system of socialist market economy; and enhancing the cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao and opening wider to both domestic and overseas markets to take the lead in establishing an opener economic system. The Pearl River Delta will combine the solution of the current problems with the planning for long-term development, sustain a stable and rather fast economic development, to provide strong support for sustaining the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao , make greater contribution to the reform and opening-up and the socialist modernization drive of China and take the lead in building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and basically realizing modernization.

2. Strategic Positioning

An experimental region for exploring the patterns of scientific development. The state will endow the Pearl River Delta with greater autonomy and lend support to its pioneering exploration into the new ways and new measures for the transformation of economic development patterns and balanced development between urban and rural areas, so that it can carve out a road of civilized development which promises economic growth, well-off life and good ecology, and become a model of scientific development for the country.

- A pilot region for further reforms. The region will continue its historic mission as the "experimental field" for nationwide reforms, conduct brave explorations and unprecedented trials, pursue overall reforms of the economic, political, cultural, and social systems, and take the lead in making breakthroughs in important fields and at key links, thus providing mighty momentum for scientific development and cumulating fresh experiences for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

- An important international gateway for expanding the opening-up program. Upholding the "One country, two system" guideline, the region will push forward its intimate cooperation, integration and common development with Hong Kong and Macao so as to forge jointly the most dynamic and internationally competitive city cluster of the Asia-Pacific region. The region will innovate its mechanisms for international and regional cooperation, elevate the overall level of its economic internationalization, and improve its open economic system featured by domestic and overseas interaction, mutual benefits and win-win results, and safety and efficiency.

- A world-class base for advanced manufacturing and modern service industries. The region will stick to its strategic orientation toward high-end development, build a new stronghold for independent innovation, forge a number of advanced manufacturing bases that rank high among their world counterparts in both scale and quality, foster a batch of internationally competitive world-class enterprises and brands, develop a system of service industries to match Hong Kong as an international financial center, and develop into an international center for shipping, logistics, trade, conferences and exhibition, tourism, and innovation that has a different positioning from Hong Kong and Macao.

- An important national economic center. The region will rank high among all Chinese economic regions in terms of economic strength, attain stronger ability to influence and lead the surrounding areas, forge a multi-layer community of industries around the region in which the different layers complement each other with resources, have interrelated industries, and experience different levels of development, and develop into the leading force for the development of is peripheral areas and the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region as well as a more powerful engine for the development of the whole country.

3. Developmental Goals

At present and in a period to come, the region will be fully prepared for the severity and complexity of the situation, keep a firm faith and dare the difficulties, take as its top priority to sustain the stable and comparatively fast economic growth, and implement the assignments by the central government concerning the expansion of domestic demand in a timely manner. In view of the local actualities, the Pearl River Delta will make vigorous efforts to improve the living conditions of citizens, stimulate the demand of end consumption, encourage private investment, and facilitate export, so as to drive economic growth with joint forces.

Till 2012, the region will have initially built a comprehensively and moderately prosperous society, preliminarily formed the system and mechanism for scientific development, achieved an obvious upgrade of industrial structure, gained noticeably stronger abilities of independent innovation, got the ecological environment remarkably improved, attained apparent improvement of people's living standards, largely narrowed the urban-rural gap, basically realized the uniform development of different parts in the region, and further integrated its economic development with that of Hong Kong and Macao. In this region, the per capita GDP will have reached RMB80,000, with the service industries accounting for 53% of the growth; the per capita incomes for urban and rural residents will have increased remarkably compared with those of 2007, the average life expectancy will have reached 78 years, the social security system will have covered all urban and rural areas, and everybody will be able to enjoy basic public services; the urbanization level will have reached over 80%; the amount of land for construction use needed for every 100 million yuan of newly added regional GDP will have decreased, the difference between the energy consumption for each unit of GDP in the region and the advanced level in the world will have narrowed significantly, and the environment quality will have further improved.

Till 2020, the region will have basically realized modernization ahead of other regions, established a sound system of socialist market economy, formed an industrial structure featuring modern service industries and advanced manufacturing industries, cultivated globally advanced capabilities of scientific innovation, fostered a scenario in which all people live in peace and harmony, and brought forth one of the world's mega metropolitan areas with the most abundant core competitive strengths through labor division, cooperation, and mutual complementation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The per capita GDP of the region will have reached RMB135,000, with the service industries accounting for 60%; the income levels for the urban and rural residents will have doubled compared with those of 2012, and a reasonable and orderly income distribution system will have basically taken form; the average life expectancy will have reached 80 years, and the a higher level of social insurance will have been realized for the whole society; the urbanization level will have reached 85%, and the energy consumption per capita GDP and the environmental quality will have reached or approached the advanced levels of the world.