Shanghai and southwest China's Sichuan Province have agreed to promote full-scale co-operation in a bid to stimulate economic development in the Yangtze River valley.

Sichuan has promoted some 146 co-operation projects at an investment fair held in Shanghai, with investment totaling more than 30 billion yuan (US$3.61 billion).

Shanghai and Sichuan, which are at the head and mouth of the Yangtze River respectively, hold huge potential they can tap by exploiting each other's strong points, said Zhang Xuezhong, secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

According to Sichuan provincial statistics, Shanghai has launched 178 co-operation projects in Sichuan with investment totaling 6.67 billion yuan (US$804 million).

In 2002, Sichuan absorbed investment totaling 1.09 billion yuan (US$131 million) from Shanghai, or 6.12 per cent of the province's total investment from other provinces and places.

Meanwhile, the vast market potential in Shanghai has also absorbed increasing investment from Sichuan.