Hong Kong Financial Secretary Henry Tang said here Saturday (Aug. 28) that the newly signed Second Phase of Chinese Mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA II) could enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness if Hong Kong people work harder to maximize the benefits of CEPA.

He said "we have successfully concluded the CEPA II on goods, services as well as trade facilitation."

He stressed that "in order to maximize the benefits of CEPA, it is up to us, the Hong Kong people, to work harder, increase our competitiveness in order to realize the potential of CEPA".

Tang said "the government do have a role to play in the facilities that we provide in order to allow companies to maximize the benefits and that include software such as the one-stop inquiry lines, as well as simplification of documentation. Documents are actually pretty simple already. However, we will continue to look at ways to see whether we can further simplify them, but ensure that the integrity is still there."

He said, on the other hand, Hong Kong's hardware has been quite favorable and some people are thinking of expanding their production or investing in new machinery.

He said that "as far as capital is concerned, the four small and medium sized enterprises funds are actually doing quite well. Again, we encourage them to take another look at them. We will continually keep under review all of these facilities to facilitate the CEPA benefits in order for the companies to maximize the benefits".

Editor: Olivia