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APEC Action Agenda good for business in Hong Kong
The Action Agenda agreed at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meeting in Osaka last month is good for business in Hong Kong, the Director-General of Trade, Mr Tony Miller, said today (Tuesday).
"It means breaking down barriers and cutting through red-tape. It means getting rid of bureaucratic hassle. It means bringing the Asia Pacific region 'on line' and making making-money easier.
"It will also mean business getting more involved in telling APEC what it has to do," he said.
Speaking at a luncheon meeting of the Lions Club of South Kowloon on the Osaka mecting of APEC, which is the regional vehicle for promoting open trade and practical economic co-operation among Asia Pacific economies, Mr Miller said breaking down barriers would involve progressively eliminating all tariffs.
"The goal is completely free trade in all goods and services. So tariffs will be either eliminated immediately if they are already low, or brought down in stages.
The volume of trade increases "In either case. the result is the same. automatically, production processes speed up and the opportunities for businessmen expand," he said.
Citing China's reduction by 30 per cent of tariffs on two-thirds of all trades goods and similarly impressive offers from Indonesia, Chile and New Zealand among others, he said these reforms would have far-reaching consequences.
Mr Miller said breaking down the barriers was not simply going to be confined to trade in goods. Trade in services must also be tackled.
"Again, in some cases, the 'Initial Actions' remove some barriers to services. The Action Agenda highlights work already in hand in APEC in four service areas: telecommunications, transportation, tourism and energy. The need for urgent action to unblock bottlenecks in these areas has been recognised, as has the need to give the market freer rein." he said.