Written by William Lam

Joint Secretary of MCAHK

Mr. K K Yeung, Chairman, and Mr. William Lam, Joint Secretary attended a meeting with the officials of various Departments of the China Government, including the Commerce Department, the State Council and the Hong Kong and Macau Office on 20 December, 2004 in Hong Kong. The meeting was initiated by the China Government, and was intended to review the update economic situations of Hong Kong after the implementation of CEPA since 2004. A number of other trade associations in Hong Kong were also invited to join the discussion, including the Hotel Association, the Export Merchants Association, and the Hong Kong Exhibitors Association. Mr. Yeung presented in the meeting on the impacts of CEPA to the consultancies business in Hong Kong. Mr. Yeung mentioned that, whilst the implementation of CEPA had been one of the factors which brought to a revival of Hong Kong's economy, its impact to the consultancies industry was not as big as it should be. Mr. Yeung pointed out that the main reason for this was due to the fact that there was not much tax benefits brought about by the CEPA regulations. Hence, the practitioners of the consultancies business in Hong Kong have been continuing their existing pattern of running their business "offshore" of the mainland China. He expected that this way of running of the consultancies business in Hong Kong might change over years. The China Government officials noted the Association's views and said they would reflect them to the relevant Government Departments. They also look forward to further changes in the coming new CEPA regulations to be informed tp be introduced further.