Chinese and overseas experts are scheduled next week to discuss ways to promote development in China's most vibrant industrial and business area, namely Shanghai and other parts of the Yangtze River Delta.

Renowned sociologists, economists, architects and bankers will attend the international symposium from July 25 to 27 in Shanghai, under the theme "Regional Development and Cooperation in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta."

Fei Xiaotong, China's most well-known sociologist and head of a research team on the region, will deliver a keynote speech, and Li Shantong, director-general of the Development Research Center of the State Council, is scheduled to release reports on the competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta.

Experts also include Ray Anderson, former co-chairman of the President's Sustainable Development Council of the United States, and Wu Liangyong, architect and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Including Shanghai City and Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, the Yangtze River Delta is the most developed area of China. It covers an area of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles), which is about one percent of the country's total but contributes to 17 percent of China's gross domestic product (GDP).

(ChinaEnvironment.com July 22, 2002)