Hong Kong has been
tipped to become China's centre for offshore Renminbi business,
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said Friday.
The city would be chosen
if the mainland proceeds with the plan, Tung said, while revealing
other free-trade measures being rolled out to help Hong Kong's
economic recovery and restructuring.
The mainland will
consider allowing Hong Kong banks to conduct Renminbi business for
individuals on a trial basis, including deposits, remittances,
exchange and credit card business, Tung said.
Allowing local banks to
conduct Renminbi business for individuals would benefit Hong Kong
in its development as an international financial centre, said
Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary
Authority.
Under a World Trade
Organization agreement, China will only allow foreign banks to run
Renminbi business with Chinese individuals in late 2006.
Tung also said that the
central government has agreed to support mainland enterprises that
meet requirements to make public offers of securities and to get
listed in Hong Kong.
The mainland authorities
will also consider relaxing the 15 percent limit on Hong Kong
insurers in holding shares in a mainland insurance company, Tung
said.
On the tourism front,
residents in Beijing and Shanghai will be allowed to travel to Hong
Kong without having to join tour groups, he said.
Hong Kong and the
mainland had also agreed to reach a consensus by the end of
September on the rules of origin for Hong Kong products, 273 of
which will be exempted from tariffs when exported to the mainland
starting next year.
The new agreements
represent an extension of a free-trade pact, called Closer Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed between Hong Kong and the
mainland on June 29.
The pact, signed during
Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Hong Kong, extends zero tariff
treatment for 273 Hong Kong products starting next year and all
local goods from 2006.
It further opens up 17
of the mainland's service sectors to Hong Kong firms.
Calling the measures
"major breakthroughs,'' Tung said "the government will do its best
to help all sectors and professionals in Hong Kong to grasp these
opportunities so as to speed up economic recovery.''
The new agreement came
after Premier Wen's pledge that the central government would
support the measures to help Hong Kong's economic recovery and
restructuring.
Wen agreed during the
meeting to further expand market access of telecommunications,
tourism and financial services to Hong Kong firms.
Hong Kong's
tourism-related sectors, such as retail, catering, hotel and
entertainment, are expected to benefit from the relaxed visa
requirements for residents in Beijing and Shanghai, analysts
said.
The new measure came
after residents in the cities of Jiangmen, Foshan, Zhongshan and
Dongguan in South China's Guangdong Province were allowed earlier
this month to travel to Hong Kong individually starting next
Monday.
(China Daily July 26,
2003)