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Following is the transcript (English part) of a media session given by the Financial Secretary, Mr Antony Leung, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Mr An Min, after the Second High Level Consultations on the Mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) today (March 27):

Question: Mr Leung, what progress has been made at the second round talks and what are the major obstacles that have yet to be solved?

Financial Secretary: First I think this round of discussions is to confirm a lot of progress being made at the senior official level because before Mr An and I met, various officials from the Mainland and Hong Kong have met many times and they have really studied quite a number of issues. So, the progress means a lot of work has actually been done at that level. Right now we are focusing on quite a number of issues, especially on a number of issues that we believe would need further study, such as the mechanism for certifying the origin of goods, such as studying various aspects of the services area because in services area we are talking about quite a number of sectors. So we have agreed to set up a number of task forces/specialists groups to focus on these issues with the hope that we can achieve agreement on them in the near future. We have agreed that the next round of discussions will be held in late May. The fact that we are setting a date just two months away means that both sides are very keen to push forward and push forward very quickly.

Question: You mentioned, perhaps please clarify, the use of rules of Hong Kong for issuing certificates of origin, is that right?

Financial Secretary: No, that is the basis for further discussion. We have agreed that the mechanism that we have is a good basis to work on but then we have to make necessary adjustments. That's why we have to set up a task force between the two sides to study this issue a bit further.

Question: Why is it better to use the Hong Kong one as basis?

Financial Secretary: Because this is one that has been used for quite a long time and the Hong Kong manufacturers are very used to it.

(Please also refer to the Chinese part.)

End/Wednesday, March 27, 2002

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