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Mainland to Exempt Tariffs on HK Goods

2005/08/14

The Chinese mainland will exempt trade tariffs on all products made in Hong Kong and Macao before 2006, a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce announced in Chengdu on July 25, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The trade tariffs are expected to be abolished before January 1, 2006. Also, more service sectors will be opened to Hong Kong and Macao investors, Chen Jian, an assistant minister of Commerce, confirmed at the high-ranking officials’ session of the Second Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation and Development Forum.

The move is part of an initiative mainland authorities related to the third stage of negotiations concerning the Hong Kong and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), said Chen. Since CEPA took effect at the beginning of 2004, the mainland has exempted tariffs on 1,108 Hong Kong products and 509 Macao products, nearly covering all of their production categories. The mainland also opened up 26 service industries to Hong Kong and Macao, according to the official. By the end of June 2005, the total value of "zero tariffs" commodities from Hong Kong and Macao to the mainland amounted to HK$1.86 billion (US$238 million), which amounted to tariff cuts of about 130 million yuan (US$16 million). Chen said that further development of the CEPA will provide more business opportunities for nine provinces and regions in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region, Hong Kong and Macao and each will benefit from mutual cooperation in terms of resources, market and managerial expertise.



 
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