For immediate release
The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) welcomed the Seventh Supplement to CEPA, signed today between HKSAR Financial Secretary John Tsang and Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei.
The Supplement VII to CEPA provides for 35 market liberalisation and trade and investment facilitation measures in 19 sectors. Among them, 27 are liberalisation measures in 14 service sectors, of which eight are measures for “early and pilot implementation”.
“As the earliest advocate of strongly liberalising commercial relations between Hong Kong and the Mainland, we are pleased to see so many of the measures we recommended to the Hong Kong SAR Government being included in this document,” said HKGCC chairman Andrew Brandler. “In particular, measures enabling Hong Kong banks’ operating institutions in the Mainland to conduct Renminbi business, the consideration of launching ETFs in the Mainland at an appropriate time, which we proposed in our CEPA submission,” he said. “The relaxation for Hong Kong service providers to invest and set up hospitals in Mainland is also welcomed, and will further benefit Hong Kong enterprises and the economy as a whole.”
Mr Brandler welcomed the inclusion of two new sectors in the liberalization measures, raising the total number of liberalised service sectors from 42 to 44.
“Further liberalization on banking and securities services, as well as measures benefiting individuals and small businesses will enhance mutual economic and trade cooperation, bringing tangible benefit to both sides,” he added.
HKGCC CEO Alex Fong said: “We are glad that our proposals on benefiting tourism, construction and engineering, and SMEs have been adopted into the newly signed Supplement. This will allow more flexibility for Hong Kong travel agents, architects and engineers to set up operation and practise in the Mainland.”
“The 35 liberalization provisions will allow more Hong Kong services providers and enterprises to open up new markets and expand businesses in the Mainland. We believe the implementation of CEPA will not only benefit businesses, but also generate plenty of job opportunities for the community.”
The Chamber urges businesses to take advantage of the new CEPA provisions, and hopes that the Central and HKSAR governments will continue to promote CEPA, particularly with regard to implementation of the agreement through streamlining the application and approval procedures, and expanding the Hong Kong brands promotion.
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