The 10th joint conference for mayors of the six cities included in the Hangzhou metropolitan area was held on Nov 27 in Anji county, Huzhou.

The Hangzhou metropolitan area covers an area of over 53,440 square kilometers and includes the cities of Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and Quzhou in Zhejiang province as well as Huangshan in Anhui province.

The metro area ranked 7th among the top 10 most promising metro areas in China this year, according to a report released by the Evergrande Research Institute in June.

Ma Xiaohui, secretary of the Huzhou municipal Party committee, attended the conference, extended his warm welcome to the attendees and delivered a speech.

Ma said that over the past 12 years, cities in the area have been pooling resources to construct transportation infrastructure, develop markets and industries, improve the environment, and raise living standards.

Qian Sanxiong, mayor of Huzhou, suggested that the Hangzhou metropolitan area should strive to drive digital transformation, develop digital economy, promote regional environmental management and improve public services and quality of life in its constituent cities.

The 11th joint conference will be held in Haining, a county-level city in Jiaxing next year.

A press conference for the metropolitan area was held in Anji county on Nov 26.

According to the conference, in the first three quarters of this year, the gross regional domestic product of the area reached 2.2 trillion yuan ($313 billion), up 6.8 percent year-on-year.

The general fiscal revenue of the area surpassed 550 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent.