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
Government officials and representatives of major media organizations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states attended a roundtable meeting on Wednesday in Astana, Kazakhstan, ahead of the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO.
Hosted by the China Media Group (CMG), the meeting was held under the theme of pulling together the media power and carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit. Attendees summarized what China and other SCO members have achieved in media cooperation and sought deeper cooperation for the future.
Shen Haixiong, president of the CMG, said mass media organizations should deepen cooperation and jointly promote exchanges and mutual learning by telling stories of people-to-people ties among SCO members and creating a fair, objective and healthy global public opinion ecology.
Shen said the CMG is willing to make joint efforts with the mass media outlets of SCO member countries to take the Astana roundtable meeting as an opportunity to push the development of the SCO to a new level.
Kanat Iskakov, Kazakh vice minister of culture and information, drew attention to the key role of mass media in strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good neighborliness. He hoped that through this dialogue, mass media organizations of the SCO member states could establish closer cooperative relations.
Andrey Denisov, the first deputy chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, said SCO member states should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and build a more just, reasonable, diversified and inclusive space for international public opinion in the current international environment.
Other representatives of major mass media organizations from the SCO member states also shared their insights on how best to strengthen exchanges and cooperation.
Bolat Nurgaliyev, a former SCO Secretary-General, said media outlets should strive to create a cultural atmosphere and environment of mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual appreciation.
According to another former SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov, over 180 events dedicated to various sectors have been held during Kazakhstan's presidency of the SCO, and he suggested that a media union of the SCO countries could be established to strengthen technical cooperation.
At the event, an initiative to deepen pragmatic cooperation between the CMG and SCO mass media outlets was launched. According to the initiative, mass media should deepen cooperation, strengthen mutual training and share best practices.
Founded in Shanghai back in 2001, the SCO is a trans-regional organization comprised of nine full members, three observer countries, and 14 dialogue partners, which covers over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass and nearly half of the world's population.
SCO members eye deeper cooperation in mass media
SCO members eye deeper cooperation in mass media
