A delegation from the Chinese mainland arrived in Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Thursday for the second round of talks on working out a closer economic partnership arrangement (CEPA) between the two sides.

The delegation will go into detailed negotiations with Macao officials and trade institutions on CEPA articles in the two-day meeting.

Both sides will concentrate on technical issues on logistics trade before moving on to trade in services and facilitation of trade and investment.

The first round meeting was held in Beijing on June 20.

Both sides hoped to finish negotiations this year and to implement the document on January 1 next year.

CEPA would benefit mutual investment between the mainland and Macao by creating more favorable legal environment for economic and trade relations.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2003)