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The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Ministry of Commerce of the Central People's Government co-organised the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) Forum on Agreement on Trade in Services today (January 21). The forum aimed to familiarise the trade with the services liberalisation measures and the implementation arrangements under the Agreement on Trade in Services signed under the framework of CEPA on November 27, 2015.
The Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Commerce, Industry and Tourism), Mr Philip Yung, and the Director-General, Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce, Mr Sun Tong, attended the forum and delivered speeches.
Twelve representatives from central ministries introduced the content and implementation arrangements, as well as the criteria and procedures for application for preferential treatment under the Agreement, and answered questions from Hong Kong businessmen at the forum.
The forum included breakout sessions covering financial services (insurance, banking and securities); accounting; legal; construction and engineering; audiovisual (films); cultural; tourism; transport; technical testing, analysis and product testing; telecommunications; and computer and related services.
The Central People's Government announced in 2011 the objective of basically achieving liberalisation of trade in services between the Mainland and Hong Kong by the end of the National 12th Five-Year Plan period. The Agreement achieves this goal, enabling the two sides to reach a new milestone after the continuous liberalisation of trade in services through CEPA over the years. The Agreement came into effect on the day of signing and will be implemented from June 1, 2016.
Ends/Thursday, January 21, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:24
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