General Chamber's Services Coalition submits Liberalisation Wish List

A "Wish List" of the Hong Kong service sector on liberalisation of trade in services has been submitted to the Director-General of Trade and Industry. The "Services 2000 Hong Kong Wish List" is compiled by the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries, the service policy think tank of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

"Trade liberalisation holds the key to strengthening Hong Kong as a financial, logistics and digital hub," said Mr Stanley Ko, Chairman of the HKCSI.

The liberalisation negotiations, known as the "Services 2000" round, were formally launched by the World Trade Organisation in February 2000. Being a service-oriented economy - service industries now account for 85% of GDP - Hong Kong has a major stake in multilateral trade policy making in services.

In the Wish List the HKCSI calls for greater ease for executives and professionals to move across borders to provide service. "The people issue is absolutely critical for the service industries," said Mr Ko. The Coalition suggests that the immigration regimes of WTO members should be more liberal to streamline the cross-border movement of people.

The theme of liberalisation and de-regulation runs through the HKCSI Wish List. Thus commented HKCSI Secretary General Dr WK Chan, "There has been considerable progress in market access since the Uruguay Round, the last major round of trade negotiations. While market access will remain a key issue, in the current round there should be more focus on achieving trade liberalisation through domestic regulatory reform. For many jurisdictions, the market infrastructure needs to be strengthened through de-regulation, as to encourage more effective competition between foreign and local companies."

In the Wish List the Coalition also highlighted seven major sectors for liberalisation, namely, financial services, business services, information and telecommunications, distribution, construction and engineering, transport, and electronic commerce.

"These sectors reinforce each other," explained Mr Ko, "Liberalisation of trade in services will provide the opportunities for these intertwining sectors to flourish and to make Hong Kong into a world class financial, logistics and digital hub."

In the HKCSI Wish List, under financial services Hong Kong looks for an expansion in the scope of business for banks and insurance companies. To enhance the global logistics and distribution businesses, Hong Kong's trading partners are urged to adopt trade facilitation measures through simplification of customs clearance procedures and elimination of unnecessary regulatory practices that impede the movement of goods, among other things. On e-commerce regulation, the HKCSI calls for a minimalist regulatory approach.

The full HKCSI Wish List also consists of a detailed country and sector breakdown of the aspirations of Hong Kong businesses in other markets. The Wish List has been compiled after a detailed 20-month study of the experience of Hong Kong's service industries. The study was undertaken by the City University with funding from the Government Services Support Fund.

For enquiries, please contact Dr W K Chan, assistant director of HKGCC at 2823 1294.