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enterprises in the province, which are looking for direct investment opportunities in Hong Kong.
External Commercial Relations
Hong Kong'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 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.
As a small and open economy, the Hong Kong's participation in the WTO is guided by two objectives: first, to sustain the momentum of trade liberalisation, especially in areas of interest to the HKSAR, such as tariffs and services; and second, to strengthen and update the multilateral rules-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 participates actively in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations launched at the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. Its priority in this round is to seek greater market access for its services sectors and industrial goods. At the Sixth Ministerial Conference hosted by Hong Kong on December 13-18, 2005, WTO members adopted the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration which set out a series of agreements in the major negotiating areas and a timetable for the next and final phase of the negotiations. The outcome of the conference laid a solid basis for the round to be completed by 2006. Hong Kong's business community will benefit from further liberalisation brought about by the negotiations.
The hosting of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference demonstrated the commitment of Hong Kong to the WTO. Hong Kong's performance as chair of the conference and as a constructive delegation earned warm appreciation from WTO members from both developed and developing countries. Meticulous arrangements made for the conference underlined Hong Kong's role as an international convention centre. This should help further enhance Hong Kong's international image and its attractiveness to tourists and international trade and business.
Regional Economic Cooperation
As an important services, financial and trading centre and an integral part of the Asia-Pacific economy, Hong Kong continued to play an active role in enhancing regional economic cooperation. In 2005, some 83 per cent of Hong Kong's external trade was conducted with the other 20 member economies of APEC. Hong Kong
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