A signing ceremony for a strategic cooperation agreement on establishing an innovative development alliance among three places in the Yangtze River Delta is held on May 21. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

An innovative development alliance is set to be established among three places in the Yangtze River Delta, according to a strategic cooperation agreement inked on May 21.

Through the alliance, Suzhou's Taicang and Kunshan, and Shanghai's Jiading district will further enhance their exchanges and cooperation in technology, industries, urban planning, the environment, transportation, people's livelihoods and professional talents.

A big advantage of the location of the three districts is their proximity to each other, thus cooperation will be made easier.

It is hoped the alliance will demonstrate the integrated development of these three places in the Yangtze River Delta.

Such an integrated development is one of the important strategies for the delta's progress proposed by the Communist Party of China.

The cities located in the Yangtze River Delta include Shanghai and 26 other cities from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces.

An action plan for constructing such an alliance was released during the signing ceremony.

According to the plan, by the end of 2020, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the three places will exceed 800 billion yuan ($125.6 billion) and the output of emerging industries will surpass 2,000 billion yuan.

In addition, more than 2,500 high-tech enterprises will settle and over 40 percent of the land in the three places will be covered with plants by 2020.