Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Prof KC Chan will hold a three-day visit to Beijing to meet financial officials and sign a tax pact with the Mainland.

He will met President of China Life Yang Chao, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Chairman Jiang Jianqing, Agricultural Bank of China Chairman Xiang Junbo, People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Hu Xiaolian and China Construction Bank Chairman Guo Shuqing. He will also meet representatives of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China.

Tomorrow, Prof Chan will sign the third protocol of the arrangement between the Mainland and Hong Kong for avoiding double taxation and preventing fiscal evasion over income taxes with State Administration of Taxation Deputy Commissioner Wang Li.

The third protocol upgrades the Exchange of Information Article in the arrangement to the 2004 version of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development. The article requires the contracting parties, upon receiving an information request, to exchange information even when there is no domestic tax interest involved.

The protocol will come into force after the completion of ratification procedures and notification by both sides.

Prof Chan will return to Hong Kong on May 28.