Hong Kong, mainland hold forum on trade liberalization

HONG KONG -- A forum on liberalization of trade between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong was jointly held Monday by China's Ministry of Commerce, the government of China's Guangdong province and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

Titled the 2015 Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) Forum on Liberalization of Trade in Services, the forum was aimed at enhancing the Hong Kong business community's understanding of liberalization measures.

Such measures were contained in the Agreement between the mainland and Hong Kong on achieving Basic Liberalization of Trade in Services in Guangdong (Guangdong Agreement) and the associated implementation arrangements.

Gregory So, Hong Kong's secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Sun Tong, deputy head of China's Ministry of Commerce 's department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao affairs, as well as Zhao Yufang, vice-governor of Guangdong province, attended the forum and delivered speeches.

The forum included sessions covering financial services, legal services, construction and related engineering, tourism, telecommunications as well as other service categories.

The central government announced in 2011 the objective of basic liberalization of trade in services between the mainland and Hong Kong by the end of the National 12th Five-Year Plan period. The Guangdong Agreement, signed last December under the framework of CEPA, advanced the achievement of this goal for Guangdong Province.

By the end of February 2015, the HKSAR government has approved nearly 123,000 applications for Certificate of Hong Kong Origin under CEPA, with the total export value of goods from Hong Kong to the mainland amounting to over HK$68 billion ($8.774 billion).

In addition, the HKSAR government issued over 2,800 Hong Kong Service Supplier Certificates to more than 1,600 enterprises under CEPA. Major service sectors involved were transport and logistics, distribution, air transport, placement and supply services of personnel, as well as advertising services.