Mainland, HK sign new supplement to CEPA
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E-mail Xinhua, June 29, 2012
Chinese mainland and Hong Kong on Friday inked a supplementary agreement to their existing economic pact, pledging to further open services sector to each other and consolidate trade and economic ties.
The ninth supplement to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) provides for a total of 43 measures for services liberalization and trade and investment facilitation, covering 22 service sectors such as education, medical treatment, construction, telecommunication, banking, brokerage, tourism and railway transportation.
It is also aimed at promoting the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in Hong Kong and the mainland, the world's second-largest economy.
The new agreement, signed by Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Yaoping and Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang, will add the number of open-up service sectors to 48, which will give a big boost to Hong Kong's economy as the service sector contributed to more than 90 percent of the city's annual economic output.
Policies under the new supplement, taking effect from Jan. 2013, will allow Hong Kong medical service providers to establish medical institutions on the mainland by sole investment or with mainland partners.
Hong Kong's telecommunication operators will be allowed to set up solely-funded or joint venture offshore call centers in Dongguan and Zhuhai cities of neighboring Guangdong province on a pilot scheme, according to the supplement.
There are also arrangements in the supplement to encourage qualified mainland enterprises to go public at Hong Kong bourse while letting Hong Kong financial institutions open joint venture brokerages, fund management companies and futures firms on the mainland.
The supplement came before a series of celebrations during the weekend to mark the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China. President Hu Jintao arrived at noon Friday to attend the celebrations and swearing-in ceremony of the fourth-term government of HKSAR on a three-day visit trip.
CEPA, signed on June 29, 2003, aimed to forge closer ties between Hong Kong and the mainland. The pact covered three broad areas, namely trade in goods, trade in services as well as trade and investment facilitation.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index surged 2.19 percent, the biggest daily gain in two weeks, to end at 19,441.46 Friday after the announcement. The mainland key Shanghai index climbed 1.35 percent to 2225.43.
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