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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at a media session at Central Government Offices after meeting Hong Kong entrepreneurs in Dongguan today (November 12):
In the face of the global credit crunch and economic downturn, the Government is highly concerned about the difficulties faced by Hong Kong enterprises in the mainland. This morning, I had a working breakfast with leaders of five main chambers of commerce in Hong Kong to gauge their views. I just came back from Dongguan after visiting a Hong Kong-owned metalware factory, where I also met about 20 representatives of Hong Kong enterprises and we tried to understand their difficulties.
In Hong Kong, we have recently rolled out a number of measures to support the SMEs. We have also proposed concrete measures which could be taken by the Mainland authorities to assist the Hong Kong enterprises. They cover four major areas:
First, to assist the processing trade, we hope the Mainland authorities could consider easing the requirements of certain policies, such as export tax rebate, transfer and transformation of processing trade, as well as the Customs Deposit Guarantee.
Second, Hong Kong enterprises are concerned that in complying with the Labour Contract Law, labour costs will surge, flexibility in managing human resources will be undermined, and labour disputes will also arise. We hope the Mainland authorities could introduce appropriate relief measures.
Third, we look forward to measures that can facilitate Hong Kong businessmen, who have been manufacturing in the Mainland for export, in selling their products in the Mainland markets.
Finally, we hope the Mainland banks and relevant authorities could relax the credit facilities to Hong Kong businessmen operating in the Mainland.
We are glad to learn that Dongguan Municipal Government announced yesterday some measures which would help local enterprises including those owned by Hong Kong operators. These measures echoed the various proposals I outlined just now. I also know that the city Municipality Government would follow the same way. We will continue to pursue these proposals with the provincial authorities and the Central Government.
Ends/Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Issued at HKT 20:59
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