NANNING -- Regional cooperation and integration will be a major driving force for regional growth as the global economy continues to face uncertainties, says a declaration released at the closing ceremony of the Sixth Pan-Beibu Gulf (PBG) Economic Cooperation Forum Friday.

The European debt crisis has worsened, while the impact of the American debt woes on the global financial market and world economic growth is still lingering, said Michael Yeoh, Chief Executive of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute of Malaysia. Yeoh announced the Declaration of Pan-Beibu Gulf Think Tank Summit 2011 at the closing.

"Economic globalization brings not only benefits but also crisis and comes with not only driving force but also pressure," Yeoh read.

"Therefore, regional cooperation and regional integration will become the major driving force for regional growth that will rely more on the region itself but less on the outside world or on globalization."

Economic cooperation in the Pan-Beibu Gulf region aims to build the new growth pole for China and ASEAN, according to the Declaration.

It also says that financial cooperation will support regional cooperation and facilitate stable and sustained regional growth in the context of an unstable global financial market and continuous fluctuation of the US dollar.

The Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor, which is the on-land extension of the PBG Marine Cooperation, will contribute to regional connectivity and play an important role in ASEAN integration and regional development, it adds.