As Hong Kong's links with southern China develop after the handover, more banks from Hong Kong are likely to be authorised to operate in Guangzhou.
At the same time, the city is working on the idea of launching a company along the lines of the Beijing Holdings enterprise on the Hong Kong market, subject to approval from Beijing and from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
This emerged from an interview by the South China Morning Post last week with the Communist Party Secretary of Guangzhou, Gao Siren. It was one of a series of interviews conducted by the newspaper with party secretaries in southern China to get their views of the relationship with Hong Kong after the handover. The interviews will run through this week.
SCMP: How do you see the development of relations between Hong Kong and Guangzhou after July 1? Gao: Guangzhou and Hong Kong are linked by innumerable ties of geography and personal relationships. Hong Kong's return is a great victory for Deng Xiaoping's 'one country, two systems' concept and erases 100 years of shame.
The relationship will become even closer, and we are fully confident about Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.
SCMP: If you have two systems, one in Hong Kong and one in Guangzhou, how far can economic co-operation develop between the two? Gao: The Pearl River Delta, especially Guangzhou, has historical relations with Hong Kong economically, geographically, politically and culturally. Economic exchanges between our two cities have been more frequent since 1979.