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SCIT meets trade associations and professional bodies on CEPA
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    The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong, today (March 30) chaired the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) consultative forum to hear the views of business associations and professional bodies on the implementation and further development of CEPA.

     To follow up on the CEPA-related recommendations of the Economic Summit on "China's 11th Five-Year Plan and the Development of Hong Kong", the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, together with the Trade and Industry Department and other bureaux and departments/organisations involved in CEPA implementation, launched the CEPA consultative forum for exchanges on trade and investment facilitation measures and problems encountered relating to CEPA implementation, and to gather views which the trade may have on further services liberalisation.  

     The forum was attended by representatives of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Hong Kong Chinese Importers' and Exporters' Association, and the Hong Kong Coalition of Professional Services.  The representatives discussed the implementation progress of CEPA and further liberalisation measures in trade in services. They also exchanged views on issues such as brand promotion, protection of intellectual property, as well as the progress in using CEPA benefits to provide professional services in the Mainland.  

     "The forum provides an opportunity for the Government to jointly explore with the trade on how to develop the potentials of CEPA more fully.  Such input is particularly timely for our current discussions with the Ministry of Commerce and other Mainland authorities on furthering CEPA liberalisation and implementation," Mr Wong said.  

     The Government organised the Economic Summit on "China's 11th Five-Year Plan and the Development of Hong Kong" on September 11, 2006.  The Focus Group on Trade and Business, one of the four focus groups formed at the Economic Summit, put forward a report and an "Action Agenda" in January this year.  One of the recommendations of the Focus Group was to establish a consultative arrangement to provide a platform for exchanges on issues relating to CEPA, so as to provide a private sector perspective in tapping the full potential of CEPA.
 

Ends/Friday, March 30, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:59

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