Professionals from Hong Kong look poised to enjoy more access to the mainland’s growing services market as officials from both sides unveiled details of an agreement that aims to tear down more barriers to cross-border trade in services.
Signed today, the newest pact applies to the whole of China and adds 28 liberalisation measures to existing agreements, covering sectors such as legal, accounting, banking, telecommunication, and culture and entertainment.
Hong Kong’s favourable position to enjoy the mainland’s most preferential liberalisation measures was assured by the agreement’s ‘most-favoured treatment’ provision.
The agreement specified that any preferential treatment the mainland accorded to other countries or regions would be extended to Hong Kong if doing so would be more preferential than the terms offered under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.
Speaking at a signing ceremony this morning with mainland authorities, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said: “The new agreements will make it easier for Hong Kong companies to open up businesses in the mainland.”
Tsang added that the agreement was an example of effectively implementing the principle of one country two systems.
Wang Shouwen, the national vice-minister of commerce, said today’s agreement was built on the success of the city’s agreement signed with Guangdong province last year.
Until September this year, local companies had invested 8.9 billion yuan in new free economic zones in Guangdong to set up businesses in areas like software development, finance and legal services, Wang said.
Today’s agreement, due to take effect in June next year, was the latest supplement to Cepa between Hong Kong and the mainland.
First signed in 2003, the arrangement aimed to open up the mainland market to Hong Kong companies by removing tariffs and investment restrictions while promoting mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
The latest Cepa agreement arose after Communist Party officials in Beijing last month wrapped up their discussion of the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan, a period starting from next year and running to 2020.
At the meeting, the party pledged to bolster Hong Kong’s role in China’s economic development, mindful that the city’s economy was heavily service-oriented as service sectors comprised more than 90 per cent of its GDP.
At present, 153 sectors in the mainland had fully or partially opened up to the city’s services industry.
Kenneth Mak, director general of Hong Kong’s trade and industry department, said while local businesses had benefited from Cepa, venturing into the mainland remained a challenge because the city’s legal system differed significantly from that of the mainland.
