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The Commission on Strategic Development, chaired by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, will discuss "Hong Kong and Regional Co-operation in East Asia" at its meeting on December 17 (Thursday).
The Secretariat of the Commission today (December 7) issued a paper on the subject for members' consideration. The paper explores ways of enhancing Hong Kong's co-operation with its neighbours in the region, in particular the 10 ASEAN countries.
Hong Kong has enjoyed close relations with the ASEAN countries in trade and economic co-operation, as well as on a community level. It maintains close contacts with these countries through establishing economic and trade offices, participating in regional professional and functional organisations, entering into bilateral agreements, and cultural and arts exchange. However, as regional co-operation in East Asia chiefly operates under the ASEAN framework and is limited to sovereign states, it is not easy for Hong Kong, as an individual economic entity, to participate directly in the mainstream East Asian economic co-operation mechanism.
Given China's rapid economic growth and the gradual development of regional economic co-operation towards integration in East Asia, the scope of integration is set to go beyond trade to cover finance. Hong Kong needs to be more pro-active in its participation in regional financial co-operation in order to consolidate its status as an international financial centre. Hong Kong, as China's most competitive international financial centre outside the Mainland, should continue to support the Central People's Government by providing a valuable testing ground for the internationalisation of the renminbi (RMB), expanding the local RMB business and bond market progressively and exploring ways to develop itself into Asia's central bond market and RMB clearing centre.
Hong Kong should also constantly strengthen its ties with financial entities in East Asia and elsewhere so as to enhance financial co-operation in the region, share its experience in maintaining financial market stability and attract enterprises from ASEAN countries to raise capital in Hong Kong in order to consolidate its status as an international financial centre.
On how best to strengthen Hong Kong's participation in East Asia regional co-operation, the paper suggests a multi-pronged approach for strategic consideration. This includes participation in East Asia co-operation in a manner in line with China's overall strategy on the region; to enter into more bilateral agreements on trade or services with individual ASEAN countries; to remove obstacles to regional co-operation with East Asia at policy level; to adopt a city-to-city mode of co-operation to extend our ties with major cities in ASEAN countries; to expand the scope of regional co-operation for the development of the six industries where Hong Kong enjoys advantages; to establish a "second track mechanism" and strengthen local universities' capacity for conducting research projects on East Asia; to formulate forward-looking strategies; and to watch out for opportunities available to Hong Kong as a result of co-operation in the Greater Mekong and Beibu Gulf sub-regions, and between Guangdong and ASEAN countries.
The paper invites members to advise on a number of key issues, including the opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong arising from the long-term development of East Asia regional co-operation; strategies to enhance the co-operation between Hong Kong and East Asian countries; the adequacy of existing efforts in enhancing Hong Kong's participation in East Asia regional co-operation and possible improvements to be made; and recommended actions for Hong Kong to enhance co-operation with East Asian countries in the short, medium and long term.
"Regional co-operation in East Asia has become a major trend of economic and trade development in the region," a government spokesman said. "Hong Kong, as Asia's World City and an international financial centre, needs to closely monitor the impact of this trend and seize the opportunities arising to strengthen its co-operation with countries in the region in such fields as finance, economy and trade as well as other areas."
The CSD discussion paper is available for downloading on www.cpu.gov.hk/english/2009_csd_2nd_meeting.htm
Ends/Monday, December 7, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:06
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