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The Secretary for Commerce and Industry, Mr CHAU Tak Hay, today (September 20) warmly welcomed the passage by the United States Senate of the bill to grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to China.

Mr CHAU said, "This is indeed very good news. We hope the PNTR bill will be signed into law by the US President as soon as possible, thus removing the uncertainty which accompanies the annual exercise to renew China's NTR status in the US. The Mainland and the US are Hong Kong's two largest trading partners. A stable trading relationship between them is therefore extremely important to Hong Kong.

"With the PNTR legislation in place, we also hope to see the early completion of China's World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession process in Geneva. China's entry into the WTO will benefit the world trading community, not least Hong Kong as the Mainland's biggest external investor and major international gateway. I am confident that Hong Kong businesses will seize the tremendous opportunities which will be opened up in such areas as professional and financial services, telecommunications, transportation, distribution, marketing, retail and tourism."

End/Wednesday, September 20, 2000

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