Foreign tour groups visiting Hong Kong and Macao are expected to be granted six-day visa-free access to the Pearl River Delta beginning next year.

This was decided at the Guangdong-Macao Joint Conference on Tuesday.

Guangdong will allow foreign tour groups of at least three people to visit the Pearl River Delta for up to six days without a visa, officials from the province told the conference in Macao.

The foreign tourists must be from a country which has diplomatic ties with China and must be touring the two special administrative regions.

Macao reached a consensus with Guangdong during the conference to engage in strategic cooperation in six areas.

Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua and Macao Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah attended the conference.

The two sides agreed to build a Zhuhai-Macao cross-border industrial park and a joint exploration of the Hengqin Island in Zhuhai.

For each of the areas, an expert team will be set up to coordinate the research and implementation of the cooperation.

(Shenzhen Daily December 11, 2003)