China’s central provinces Jiangxi， Hunan and Hubei are making joint efforts to build a new urban hub in Central China along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The strategic cooperation framework agreement to build the cities of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was released at the conference held by the three provinces on Feb. 10 in Wuhan， signifying the official start of establishing the new urban hub in Central China， China News Agency reported.

According to the agreement， the three provinces are to strengthen the interaction between regional development strategy， plan and policies， and enhance cooperation in labor division， agriculture， water conservancy， environmental protection， tourism， business， culture， education， technology， etc.

In recent years， the Wuhan City Circle in Hubei， Changsha-ZhuzhouXiangtan City Circle in Hunan and Poyang Lake Economic Zone in Jiangxi have all become important core engines in the rise of Central China. This is fundamental to the economic development of the three provinces.

With China’s regional economy competing with each other and with the growing influence of the city circles， officials from the three provinces have realized that it is necessary to plan for the regional development of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The new hub， centered on the three provincial capital cities Wuhan， Changsha and Nanchang is combined with a number of cities along the Yangtze River and around Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. This region will become a city cluster with economic integration. Through integrated planning， it will be a new growth pole in China’s economy in the future.

The three capital cities form a natural triangle where more than 90 million people live， which is nearly 8 percent of China’s population. The zone had a total economic output of RMB 2.5 trillion (US$397 billion) and maintained 7.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2010， according to China Daily. More than 129 of the top 500 global companies have either investments or offices in the region.

The coordinated development of the city group along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is beneficial for expanding further domestic consumption， leading the rise of the central region of China， said Zhou Ji， president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering， by adding that “With the favorable geographical and human conditions， the city group is ready to take off.”

Only by integrating the three provinces’ advantages can the status of the central region be improved， said Qin Zunwen， vice president of Hubei Academy of Social Sciences. The rise of the city group along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River will drive the economic development of the Yangtze River and China at large.

Leaders at the conference suggest in 10 to 20 years， efforts should been made in the integration of infrastructure， industrial layout， regional market， cultural tourism and ecological conservation in the new hub.

The hub is expected to become a fourth significant urban hub in China， after the Bohai-Rim Economic Circle(Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan); Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai-NanjingHangzhou)， and Pearl River Delta(Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai).

The capital cities are focal points in the context of the rise of Central China， and the “Central China Delta”centered on the three cities is ready to appear， said Li Hongzhong， provincial Party secretary of Hubei.