Mainland officials express importance that China's WTO entry will have on China-Hong Kong development

Stanley Ko, chairman of the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries, led CSI's annual mission to the State Development and Planning Commission (SDPC) in Beijing on July 4.

Department of Development and Planning Deputy Director General Yang Weimin, who heads SDPC's Office of Tertiary Industries, officially welcomed the delegation with a luncheon.

Following lunch, delegates met the new Vice Minister of SDPC Wang Yang, who oversees the Tertiary Industries Office. One of his key messages was that China attaches great importance to WTO entry and that Hong Kong's special position will render the SAR an important player in the development of the mainland.

Mr Ko made a case for liberalisation of more tertiary sectors in the mainland, stressing that it was equal treatment rather than preferential treatment which Hong Kong businesses were seeking.

The meeting with the vice-minister was followed by a lengthy and substantive discussion with SDPC, chaired by Mr Yang.

The delegation also met Director General Bai Hejin, who is also president of the SDPC's Academy of Macroeconomic Research. According to Mr Bai, the academy is the biggest think tank in China, employing some 500 people under various specialist institutes on investment, regional economies, prices and market, social development, energy, etc.

The two sides exchanged views frankly and freely, and Mr Yang threw up the idea of using Hong Kong's GEM (Growth Enterprise Market) as a way to raise capital for mainland technology firms.

The next morning, the delegation called on Deputy Director General Zhang Xunhai of the Foreign Investment Administration of MOFTEC (Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation). He expressed optimism for Hong Kong after the mainland's entry to the WTO, while accepting that a big challenge for the mainland looms over deregulation of some important industries.

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