Replies to initial written questions raised by Finance Committee Members in examining the Estimates of Expenditure 2012-13 Director of Bureau : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Session No. 12 File name : cedb(cit)- doc
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- Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2012-13
Question : (a) The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) will soon be established, will the Trade and Industry Department (TID) take this opportunity to establish closer trade relations with ASEAN countries? If yes, what are the concrete working plan and estimated expenditure for 2012-13? (b) In view that hidden worries still exist in the economy of many traditional trade partners of Hong Kong like Europe and North America, will TID shift its focus to other emerging markets in 2012-13? If yes, what are the working plan and estimated expenditure? Asked by : Hon. CHAN Tanya Reply : (a) The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSARG) has been actively exploring possibilities of negotiating free trade agreements with other economies so as to facilitate the access of Hong Kong goods and services to overseas markets under more favorable conditions. Mainland China and ASEAN countries are important trading partners of Hong Kong. Since the establishment of ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) in 2003, the HKSARG has been keeping a close watch of its progress and exploring the possibility of joining. When Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited Hong Kong last year, he publicly indicated the support for Hong Kong to actively participate in East Asia regional cooperation. We have expressed to ASEAN our wish for joining ACFTA in order to further facilitate trade and investment liberalisation within the region. In this regard, the HKSARG will continue to maintain close liaison with ASEAN. As the follow-up work related to Hong Kong’s joining ACFTA is part of the TID’s commercial relations work, it would be difficult to separately account for the resources involved from within the estimated expenditure for the overall commercial relations work. Hence, separate estimates cannot be provided. (b) The economy of emerging markets (including the Middle East, Russia, India and South America, etc.) has been developing continuously in recent years and their economic and trade activities with the Mainland are increasing. We have been actively strengthening our trade and investment cooperation with these markets so as to explore markets and create business opportunities for Hong Kong goods and services. For instance, visits have been arranged for senior officials (or together with the trade) and bilateral agreements in different areas have been signed. In addition, TID is now in the process of engaging consultants to assist us in understanding the latest economic and trade developments of the emerging economies. They will also collect information about the emerging markets to help formulate strategies and methods for further strengthening bilateral trade and economic links and cooperation. The expenditure of work related to emerging markets has been included in the overall estimated expenditure for commercial relations and cannot be broken down separately.
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