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Chamber Mission to Xiamen

China Committee Chairman David Lie led HKGCC's 33-member delegation to Xiamen for the 8th China International Fair for Investment and Trade on September 7-9, which was again the largest Hong Kong delegation participating the fair.                                  

In her luncheon address, "Encourage cross-border investment and enhance cooperation for mutual benefits," Vice Premier Wu Yi said China is poised to grasp the opportunities arising from the accelerating world economy. She added that the "Introducing foreign direct investment" and "going global" strategies will soon be unveiled to help accelerate this trend. The Mainland also plans to raise the quality and volume of foreign investment, and encourage more Mainland enterprises to expand overseas.

In a meeting with An Min, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, members learned that 1,087 tariff codes for Hongkong-made products will enjoy zero tariff treatment starting from next year under the second round of CEPA consultations signed on August 27. Most made-in-Hongkong products are now included in the benefit, he added.

With the services industry in the Mainland developing rapidly, Minister An said he hopes that Hong Kong service suppliers not yet engaged in business in the Mainland can enter the market soon to allow businesses on both sides of the border to benefit from CEPA. Cooperation between Hong Kong and the Mainland can take many forms and the Ministry of Commerce will continue its efforts to facilitate business between the two places, he said.

Responding to questions raised by delegates on energy and labour shortages, as well as rising labour costs in the Pear River Delta, Minister An said these were long-term problems which were inevitable during the delta's economic development. To cope with the power shortages, he said development of power plants should be stepped up, in addition, more power saving measures should be implemented. As the Mainland's economy grows and the quality of labour improves, rises in labour costs are natural. But he pointed out that we shouldn't forget that as the market expands, productivity and consumption levels also rise. He added that local governments and enterprises should work hand in hand to provide more training for workers to help ease labour shortages. 

In addition to participating in the fair, Chamber delegates also attended meetings hosted by different provincial and municipal officials from Shanghai, Xiamen, Jiangsu, Fuijian, Sichuan, Guizhou and Hainan to discuss ways to develop mutual cooperation.

Commenting on the trip, mission leader David Lie said: "The Chamber's delegation met with a good number of provincial and municipal officials. During these meetings we discussed power and labour shortages. To facilitate long-term cooperation with Hong Kong, all the officials that we met said they would deal with the problems proactively," he said. "The Chamber also expressed its plans to organise delegations to visit these provinces and municipalities in the future. The representatives were very interested in enhancing cooperation with Hong Kong companies in trade and investment areas, and in particular, the services sector."

This year's trade and investment fair attracted about 12,000 participants from over 100 economic areas. Matchmaking symposiums on investment projects were bigger this year than in the past and were also based on specific themes, which resulted in the number participants and contracted value generated to exceed last year's record. According to the fair's organisers, 1,496 investment projects were contracted at the fair's contract centre, total investment reached US$14.9 billion, among which US$11.58 billion is foreign investment. A total of 1,110 contractual projects were recorded, total investment reached US$10.19 billion, among which US$8.12 billion is foreign investment. Contracted import and export volume amounted to US$176 million.