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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Commerce, Industry and Tourism), Miss Yvonne Choi, speaking to the media after the first meeting of the Task Force to Support the Processing Trade this (August 3) afternoon:
Reporter: Could you tell us how the meeting went?
PSCIT: Generally speaking, the meeting went very well. We covered all the areas the Government has followed up since the issue of Announcement No. 44. Basically we covered five areas. One of the areas is about views of the industry. The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development has reflected fully the views and suggestions of the industry to the Ministry of Commerce and relevant ministries in Beijing for their consideration. They are actively considering those submissions. Secondly, the industry has some questions over the implementation of Announcement No. 44. We got clarification from the Ministry of Commerce yesterday and we have shared those information with members this afternoon. The third issue is the co-operation between the Hong Kong Government and the Guangdong Government. In this context, the Chief Executive and Governor Huang Huahua decided to set up a special expert group to take forward the issue yesterday. I will be going to Guangzhou to meet up with my counterpart to see how best we can take this forward. The purpose of the expert group is to see how we can help our enterprises in Guangdong to upgrade or adjust to the new policy.
Fourthly, it is about the standing book deposit. I think you have already got the readout from the Hong Kong Association of Banks. They met this afternoon to discuss this. Fifthly, it is on the question of relocating to other provinces, for example, the provinces in the central and western part. On this, we got a proposal from Hunan Province. Basically, they will offer good conditions for our enterprises to relocate there. This piece of information was also shared with members this afternoon. If they are interested, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development will be more than happy to lead delegations to visit Hunan or other provinces concerned.
Reporter: Could you give us some examples as to what suggestions the industry has given during the meeting?
PSCIT: The suggestions from the industry have been made to us in writing couple of weeks ago or since the issue of Announcement No. 44. Among other things, they include longer transition period, some encouraging measures to facilitate the transition or upgrading of the industry concerned, to adopt a more flexible approach in the case of the standing book deposit arrangement, so on and so forth.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Friday, August 3, 2007
Issued at HKT 20:59
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