Hong Kong/China Service Industries Cooperate

The State Planning Commission of China has agreed to cooperate with the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries to promote the service industries of Hong Kong and China, said Coalition Chairman Mr T Brian Stevenson on his return from the HKCSI's Beijing mission on 26-27 February.

The 10-member HKCSI delegation, led by Mr Stevenson and Coalition Vice Chairman Mr Stanley Ko, were received by Vice Chairman of the State Planning Commission Mr She Jianmin. The delegation also visited and held discussion on a wide variety of issues with the Office of the Tertiary Industries of the State Planning Commission, the State Commission for Restructuring the Economic Systems, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and the Ministry of Internal Trade.

Among other things, the HKCSI and the State Planning Commission have agreed to jointly organise a training seminar on service industries in Shenzhen later this year. "This seminar will provide a valuable occasion for Hong Kong service sector practitioners to share their experience with service sector policy makers in the mainland. Through this forum we are hopeful that both sides will familiarise themselves with the issues pertinent to the development of the service sector of their counterparts," said Mr Stevenson.

The training seminar will be followed by a Conference which the Coalition is planning to be held by the end of this year. "We are grateful to Vice Chairman She for agreeing to our proposal for this Conference," said Mr Stanley Ko. who heads the HKCSI's China programme. "The Conference will be an excellent opportunity to foster greater understanding of China's service industries, their development, prospects and challenges," said Mr Ko.

Because of the diverse nature of the service industries in China, their operations are undertakn by a wide range of government ministries. In terms of policy development, the overall coordinating and guiding role falls upon the State Planning Commission, particularly its Office of Tertiary Industries. "China's tertiary industries are only beginning to develop and from our meetings with the Office of Tertiary Industries, we are confident that a lot of growth opportunities lie ahead for China, with tremendous potential for business for Hong Kong," said Mr Ko.

Over the two days of meetings the Coalition covered a wide range of subjects with the Chinese hosts, including liberalisation of trade and foreign investment, development of the professions, the finance and telecommunications industries, distribution networks and logistics, role of state enterprises etc.

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