Progress made at CEPA meeting: CE
June 20, 2013
Chief Executive CY Leung says the CEPA Joint Working Group held its first meeting in Guangzhou two days ago, and has made progress in five sectors - audiovisual, accounting services, construction services, medical, and property management.
Speaking to media today, Mr Leung said the Mainland & Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was signed in 2003 and supplements have been signed each year since 2004. The agreement reflects the Central Government’s care and support for Hong Kong’s economic development.
He said CEPA enables Hong Kong’s commercial, financial and professional service sectors to have more and better opportunities for development, but businesses have said that they, Mainland local governments and the Central Government, have a different interpretation of the provisions.
Mr Leung proposed forming the joint working group so businesses do not have to liaise between the Central Government, local governments, and the Hong Kong Government.
The Central Government attaches importance to his proposal and agrees to let the Hong Kong Government participate in the joint working group. The Central and Guangdong Governments have sent representatives from 13 units to attend the meeting.
He said Hong Kong businesses can better utilise the CEPA provisions and establish wider networks with this mechanism added on top of the existing CEPA documents and mechanisms.
Mr Leung said 'One Country, Two Systems' is a concept implemented according to the Basic Law, and people have to look at the implementation of the Basic Law when evaluating the implementation of 'One Country, Two Systems'.
'One Country, Two Systems', 'Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong' and 'high degree of autonomy' are well implemented in Hong Kong.
He added the Government should do more promotion of the content of the Basic Law, and on how 'One Country, Two Systems' must be implemented according to the Basic law, if some people think there is problem in implementing the formula in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Mr Leung said the Government has adopted demand-management measures so property prices will not rise one to two percent per week like before. But new land is needed to meet public need for residential housing, and for economic and social development, so the pace and efficiency of new town development is important.
On the Snowden case, Mr Leung said the Government attaches great importance to it and will actively follow up according to Hong Kong law. It will also investigate whether the privacy of Hong Kong organisations and people has been invaded by having their computers hacked. It will report to the public after considering diplomatic practices and the need for confidentiality, he said.
