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through various bureaux, departments and quasi-government bodies like the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC),
Established in 1999, the Mainland/HKSAR Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade provides a useful forum for the HKSAR and Mainland authorities to discuss matters of concern to investors. It organises seminars and meetings from time to time to facilitate dialogues between Hong Kong businessmen and the Mainland officials in charge of commerce and trade. The Beijing Office of the HKSAR Government, the Trade and Industry Department (TID) and the TDC also devoted much effort in gathering and disseminating updated information on trade policies as well as the rules and regulations to Hong Kong businessmen. In December 2000, the TID and the TDC had jointly issued a pamphlet and supplement to publicise the implications of China's accession to the WTO.
Since the Mainland and the United States are Hong Kong's two largest trading partners, Hong Kong stands to benefit from a stable trading relationship between the two countries. The US Congress voted in July to extend the unconditional renewal of Normal Trade Relations status for China for another year. With the Mainland formally joining the WTO, the uncertainty caused by the annual renewal mechanism has been brought to an end.
HKSAR's Participation in the WTO
The HKSAR is a founding member of the WTO. Its separate membership reflects Hong Kong's autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations, which is guaranteed under the Basic Law.
The WTO provides for a fair, predictable and rules-based multilateral trading system for trade in goods, services and trade-related intellectual property rights. It promotes the liberalisation of international trade and serves as a forum for multilateral trade negotiations and dispute settlement among its members. Active participation in the WTO's multilateral trading system is the cornerstone of the HKSAR's external trade policy. In Geneva, Hong Kong's Permanent Representative to the WTO, Mr Stuart Harbinson, was elected Chair of the General Council, the WTO's top decision-making body, for 2001.
As a small and totally open economy, the HKSAR's participation in the WTO is guided by two objectives: first, to sustain the momentum of trade liberalisation, especially in areas of interest to Hong Kong, such as tariffs and services; secondly, to strengthen and update the multilateral rule-based trading system so that it remains an effective framework to promote trade expansion and liberalisation, as well as to protect Hong Kong against any arbitrary and discriminatory actions taken by its trading partners.
The HKSAR welcomes the launching of a new Round of multilateral trade negotiations at the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference concluded in Doha, Qatar in November. Hong Kong's business will benefit from the positive outcome of further multilateral trade negotiations. However, such benefits will not come to light and materialise in the immediate future as the new Round of negotiations will not be completed until January 1, 2005 at the earliest, and it will likely be a few years before measures arising from the negotiations are fully implemented. Nevertheless, the launch of a new Round serves as timely boost of confidence for the world economy.
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