Hong Kong announces further access to mainland
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-29 12:43
China has agreed to further open its economy to goods and services
from HK SAR under an expanded free trade agreement that aims to
strengthen economic ties between the mainland and the territory, officials said
Thursday.
The free trade pact _ called the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, or
CEPA _ will waive import tariffs on a broader range of Hong Kong goods including
electronics and spices, Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang announced at a trade
forum.
The pact will also grant the city's legal, tourism and construction
industries greater access to the mainland market starting next year, he said.
Although Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, the former British
colony's products and companies are still treated as foreign under mainland
Chinese law. CEPA is intended to address this disadvantage.
Tsang added that China was studying ways to let Hong Kong companies conduct
more transactions in Chinese yuan, including allowing local firms to settle
payments for imports from China with the Chinese currency.
The first CEPA deal, signed in 2003, gave zero-tariff status to products in
374 tariff codes. A follow-up agreement in August 2004 expanded that to goods in
another 713 tariff codes, including pharmaceuticals, textiles, clothing, food
and beverages.
Thursday's announcement came days ahead of the ninth anniversary of Hong
Kong's handover to Chinese rule.
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