What I want to point out now is what we plan to do in the days and months ahead on CEPA, now that the SAR and the central governments signed the agreement on June 29.

First of all, we are running a series of workshops, from general to sectoral, on the implications of CEPA. These workshops feature practitioners who will discuss with Chamber members what CEPA means in their specific sectors. The ones in July usually had almost 100 attendees each, and while there will be a temporary halt in August, we will resume this popular series in September. Members can learn more about the new opportunities now available to Hong Kong under CEPA.

Secondly, we already submitted to the HKSAR Government one set of questions which we believe the HKSAR Government negotiators must address as soon as possible with their Mainland counterparts. There are many pieces missing in the agreement, as well as many unclear spots. People will be loath to make investments if these questions are not answered quickly. These questions are collected from members at the workshops and from our own analysis of the agreement thus far. Since we will continue to point out these deficiencies to the negotiators, if any of you discover new places which can use immediate further clarification, let us know and we can send them on to the government.

Thirdly, we are organising several business-matching opportunities with Mainland cities and provinces which are very interested in co-operating with Hong Kong post-CEPA. And we will be promoting CEPA to foreign businesses when they visit here or when we go out to visit them. Foreign delegations are beginning to come back, and others have called in or visited our Web site to find out more about CEPA. In the next few months, there will be Chamber trips to Guangdong, Beijing, Xiamen, Shanghai, Spain, France, and Monaco to promote Hong Kong and CEPA.

Fourthly, we are compiling two assessment reports on CEPA, one a preliminary one which will be out in early August, and a full one which will be out towards the end of September. They will be available to members and help you decide how to take advantage of CEPA.