Pearl River Delta, the former vanguard of China's economic reform, will stand to be the new test field for the country to deepen economic reform and open itself wider to the outside world, the country's top economic planner said Thursday.

Under a plan released Thursday by the National Development and Reform Commission, the delta together with Hong Kong and Macao will be forged into "a globally competitive" and "the most vigorous area in the Asia-Pacific region" by 2020.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2009)