A business forum was held in Hong Kong on Monday, in a bid to promote and encourage full use of measures under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).
Jointly held by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China's Ministry of Commerce and the government of Guangdong province, the forum was desigend to help Hong Kong's business communities know better about implementation arrangements for services liberalization measures under the CEPA, which was implemented in 2004.
About 50 representatives, including some from ministries and departments of the central government attended the forum, which attracted about 350 participants, mostly Hong Kong businessmen and professionals.
Since its implementation, CEPA has benefited both Hong Kong and the mainland, boosting multi-level cooperation between the two sides in service industry, said John Tsang, the acting chief executive of the SAR, in a speech delivered in the forum.
From 2004 to 2009, cumulative business receipts obtained by service companies in Hong Kong due to CEPA from mainland-related business reached 61.6 billion HK dollars (7.95 billion US dollars).
