Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said on Thursday that the signing of Chinese mainland-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) undoubtedly pumped impetus into Hong Kong's economy.

Addressing the opening of the Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation and Development between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, Tsang said, the forum provides the participants with an opportunity to review the achievements of the CEPA and look at future opportunities.

He said one of the key areas of Hong Kong economic development is to create a win-win situation through strengthening economic and trade cooperation with the Mainland and complementing each other's strengths.

Since the implementation of the CEPA from the beginning of 2004, Hong Kong has exported products with a total value of 4.8 billion HK dollars (615 million U.S. dollars) to the mainland tariff free, he said.

Under the CEPA, Hong Kong service providers are granted preferential treatment in 27 sectors when setting up operations in the mainland. In some sectors, like legal and banking services, the preferential treatment goes beyond China's WTO commitments. 
The chief executive said the Individual Visit Scheme has been implemented in 44 mainland cities and more than 13 million mainland visitors have come to Hong Kong under the Scheme.

Application procedures for mainland enterprises to invest in Hong Kong have been streamlined. So far, about 380 mainland enterprises have obtained approval to set up operations in Hong Kong, with investment totaling over 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.

He added that mutual recognition agreements or arrangements for the exemption of professional examinations have been signed for 10 professions.

Tsang said HK's economy has now fully recovered and regained its strong momentum. The unemployment rate has dropped to 4.9 percent, its lowest level in four years. It is estimated that in its first two years of implementation, the CEPA has created 29,000 jobs, and generated 5.4 billion HK dollars (692 million U.S. dollars) in services receipts and 5.5 billion HK dollars (705 million U.S. dollars) in capital investment for Hong Kong.

Editor: Yan