NANNING, May 28 (Xinhua)-- The port city of Fangchenggang in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is planning to set up an international medical opening-up pilot zone and build it into a special zone for medical innovation and cooperation, local authorities said.

Ban Zhongbai, mayor of the city, made the remarks when attending a roundtable conference attended by representatives from 16 major Indian pharmaceutical enterprises and more than 20 Chinese companies on Sunday.

The conference is part of the first International Medical Innovation and Cooperation Forum held in Fangchenggang from Sunday to Wednesday.

Welcoming this plan, Jayaseelan Jaganathan, chairman of Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association, said China's medical market is growing rapidly with enormous market opportunities.

Indian pharmaceutical companies hope to establish friendly partnership with their Chinese counterparts to expand the Chinese market and win more customers with cost-effective medicines, Jayaseelan Jaganathan said during the conference.

Sangeeta Madhukar, president of the Services Export Promotion Council of India, said that India welcomes Chinese entrepreneurs to visit India and promote the bilateral cooperation.

There are many Indian students studying Chinese medical technology, especially traditional Chinese medicine at universities in Guangxi, Sangeeta Madhukar said, expressing the hope that more Chinese students and medical workers will come to India for exchange.

Ban, the mayor of Fangchenggang, also expressed the city's willingness to conduct innovation cooperation with Indian entrepreneurs in terms of mechanism, policies and technology.

Fangchenggang is also planning to establish an international medical rehabilitation zone and an international pharmaceutical manufacturing zone, which will consist of China-India pharmaceutical industrial park and Europe-America new and special medicine industrial park.

The city will first begin with the construction of the 67-hectare China-India pharmaceutical industrial park, which will provide a cooperation platform for Indian and Chinese companies, said Ban.

At the roundtable conference, companies from China and India signed a memorandum of cooperation on China-India Medical Pilot Zone.

China and India are member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The International Medical Innovation and Cooperation Forum was held to promote and implement the "Shanghai Spirit" and the outcomes of the SCO Qingdao Summit.