The cooperation agreements and frameworks were signed during a conference to expand economic ties among member cities of the Beibu Gulf Organization for Economic Cooperation in Zhanjiang on Friday.

Other areas to be focused on include tourism development, environmental protection, cultural exchange and projects to boost people's livelihoods.

Party to the agreements are Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang in the western part of Guangdong province, Haikou, Danzhou and Dongfang of Hainan province, and Nanning, Beihai, Yulin, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou and Chongzuo of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Wang Zhongbing, mayor of Zhanjiang, said cities around the Beibu Gulf should be connected by an advanced railway, expressway and port network to further improve competitiveness and speed up the construction of the Beibu Gulf urban agglomeration.

"But cities around the gulf should adhere to reasonable development patterns while expanding economic cooperation," Wang said.

Su Haitang, mayor of Yulin, said the cities should establish a new mechanism to expand cooperation and "further boost the development of their special and unique industries".

According to Liu Peilin, deputy director-general and research fellow of the Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy at the Development Research Center of the State Council, the cities around the Beibu Gulf have great potential for economic development and expanding economic cooperation in future.

Compared with the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Bay Economic Rim and others, economic development around the Beibu Gulf is lagging far behind, Liu said.

"The poorer the economy, the greater the potential for cooperation and growth," he said.

Liu urged the Beibu Gulf cities to establish special industrial development zones to attract industrial transfer from other prosperous areas and attract laborers from Vietnam and other Southeastern Asian Nations and expand their cooperation with The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations.