Delta region should support SMEs and value-added businesses, a forum hears
The Yangtze River Delta region needs to upgrade its industries and provide greater support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to maintain the region's competitiveness, according to experts at an economic forum in Shanghai.
The two-day forum this week, organised by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, was attended by more than 100 officials, economists and scholars from the region.
Xu Hongyuan , director of the Development Research Department at the State Information Centre, said the region should start rethinking its economy.
'As the conflicts between population, environment and economic development become more obvious with the speeding up of the industrialisation process, in the future the Yangtze River Delta region must shift its focus from labour- intensive industries to higher-value-added industries which rely more on capital and technology,' he said. High energy consumption and low labour efficiency in the region posed great challenges for sustainable growth.
Mr Xu also noted that better co-operation was needed among cities within the region to avoid local protectionism and duplication of infrastructure.
Some experts at the forum called for a better and more-regulated funding channel for private SMEs. Illegal private funding has thrived in the region because of the government's recent curb in bank lending.