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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting on Wednesday (June 17) at 11 am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on promoting cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
The motion, to be proposed by Hon Lau Kong-wah, says: "That, under the impact of the financial tsunami, Hong Kong's economic development should seek new opportunities amid the crisis and enhance cooperation with Shenzhen, and operating businesses in the Pearl River Delta will be the new economic drive for Hong Kong in the future; recently, the State Council has approved the Shenzhen Overall Comprehensive Reform Pilot Programme and Shenzhen has proposed to jointly establish with Hong Kong a global 'logistics centre', 'trade centre', 'innovation centre' and 'international cultural creativity centre', which is a course of action taken by the Central Authorities to implement the Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020), and Hong Kong should also grasp the opportunity, change its mindset and take the initiative to plan for the future; this Council urges the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to:
(a) take the initiative to expeditiously start discussion with Shenzhen on jointly establishing a global 'logistics centre', 'trade centre', 'innovation centre' and 'international cultural creativity centre', so as to deepen its cooperative relationship with Shenzhen;
(b) enhance cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen on the financial front, assist local securities companies in setting up offices in Shenzhen at an early stage and on a pilot basis, and study the feasibility of merging the two stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, thereby combining the strengths of both places and increasing the depth and breadth of the market, so as to consolidate Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre;
(c) create a new Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation mechanism, and study the feasibility of setting up an integrated office on Hong Kong-Shenzhen opportunities;
(d) formulate publicity strategies to promote to the world Hong Kong's opportunities for cooperation with Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta, so as to attract more investments and talents;
(e) discuss with Shenzhen the joint planning and development of the Qianhai zone in Shenzhen, and explore the feasibility of Hong Kong and Shenzhen jointly operating businesses in the Qianhai cooperation zone;
(f) expedite and push forward the works for the interface of major infrastructural facilities in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and speed up the implementation of measures to facilitate Shenzhen residents to visit Hong Kong, so as to achieve a more convenient and efficient flow of people, capital, goods and information;
(g) assist Hong Kong's professional services industries to develop in Shenzhen, and implement facilitation measures to further relax market entry for the services in 20 areas covered in Supplement VI to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, namely, legal, architecture, healthcare, research and development, real estate, convention and exhibition, telecommunications, audio and visual, distribution, banking, securities, tourism, cultural and recreational, maritime transport, air transport, railway transport, individually-owned stores, job intermediary, printing and publishing, and public utilities, etc;
(h) jointly build green and environmental cities with Shenzhen, raise the air and water quality in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and develop green and environmental industries;
(i) jointly develop education industries with Shenzhen, and assist Hong Kong's tertiary institutions in setting up branch campuses in Shenzhen;
(j) cooperate with Shenzhen to facilitate Hong Kong products in entering the Mainland's local consumption market, so as to boost Hong Kong brands and assist Hong Kong enterprises in their transformation;
(k) expeditiously implement various development proposals in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen river-loop area; and
(l) foster integration of the two places, including abolishing telephone roaming charges in both places, developing an Octopus Card (electronic wallet) which can be used in both places, establishing public transport services systems which link up the two places, and setting up 24-hour boundary control points, etc."
Hon Mrs Regina Ip, Hon Tommy Cheung, Hon Andrew Leung, Hon Albert Ho, Hon Cyd Ho, Hon Ronny Tong, Hon Paul Chan, and Hon Chan Kin-por will move separate amendments to Hon Lau Kong-wah's motion.
Members will debate another motion on proposal on the constitutional reform in Hong Kong. The motion, to be moved by Hon Leung Kwok-hung, says: "That this Council urges the Government to enact legislation on referendum and conduct a referendum on the proposal on constitutional reform in Hong Kong, so as to realise the principle of a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong people, allow Hong Kong people to decide on the selection of the Chief Executive and the election of all Legislative Council Members by universal suffrage in 2012, fully comply with the relevant requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the United Nations, and return the political power to the people."
Hon Cyd Ho and Hon Wong Yuk-man will move separate amendments to Hon Leung Kwok-hung's motion.
On Bills, the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2009 will be introduced into the Council for First and Second Readings. Debate on the Bill will be adjourned.
Second Reading Debate on the Disciplined Services Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009 and the Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2009 will resume. If the Bills are supported by Members and receive their Second Readings, they will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the third time.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the audio webcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Monday, June 15, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:18
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