Trade volume between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Chinese mainland surged 4.82 times since the region's return to the motherland 27 years ago in 1997, according to data released by the Shenzhen Customs.
From 1997 to 2023, the value of trade between the SAR and the mainland increased from 420.87 billion yuan (about 58 billion U.S. dollars) to 2.03 trillion yuan (280 billion U.S. dollars), the data showed.
Over the first five months of this year, the mainland saw 851.26-billion-yuan (over 117 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods be exported to and imported from Hong Kong, jumping by 14.9 percent year on year.
Hong Kong-mainland trade surges 4.82 times in 27 years since return
Hong Kong-mainland trade surges nearly fivefold in 27 years since return
Substantial progress has been made in the consultations for further liberalization of trade in services under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Monday.
During the recent third high-level meeting of the Joint Steering Committee of CEPA, the MOC and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government completed a new round of consultations to modify the CEPA Agreement on Trade in Services.
The two sides are looking forward to finalizing the text for the new agreement as soon as possible and formally signing and implementing the agreement after completing respective internal approval procedures.
Since the implementation of the CEPA, trade liberalization has been fully realized in trade in goods, and basically achieved in service trade between Hong Kong and the mainland. Meanwhile, a systematic and diversified security system has also been built for the protection of investments.
The new amendments to the CEPA Agreement on Trade in Services are expected to further deepen economic and trade co-operation between the mainland and Hong Kong as well as promote the high-level institutional opening-up.
The mainland and Hong Kong signed the CEPA on June 29, 2003, and nearly 9,000 Hong Kong-made products are now enjoying zero tariffs upon entry into the mainland.
Mainland, Hong Kong complete negotiations on revisions of economic deal
