XN000022-1994-12-02 — Page 2

7

-

. 1

-

Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee to be set up

A Government spokesman announced today (FFriday): "Following discussions in Beijing, the Sino-British Co-ordinating Committee on Major Cross-border Infrastructure between Hong Kong and the Mainland (to be referred to in short as the Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee) will be established."

1.

2.

3.

A.

The spokesman said it had been agreed that:

the Committee will consider infrastructure projects straddling the border; these will be major projects;

the Committee will not have any decision-making function;

the Committee will be a forum for exchange of views and information and for seeking to reach a common view on co-ordination and interface and matters on which a common view has been reached shall be recorded;

5. the Committee will respect and not compromise the decision-making power of Hong Kong and the Mainland on their respective infrastructure projects;

6.

it is the important working objective of the Committee to shorten the decision-making process on the convergence and interface of cross-border infrastructure projects, and thereby expedite the development of such projects of the two places;

7.

the agenda for discussion will be subject to agreement of both sides; panels dealing with specific subjects will be set up under and report to the Committee; and

8.

9.

meetings of the Committee will be held in a variety of venues including Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangdong.

The spokesman further said existing channels on cross-border liaison and co-ordination could remain in being, and continue to perform their current functions under the guidance of the Committee.

The spokesman said the membership of the British side was set out below. It is agreed that the membership may be varied by either side according to the agenda of meetings of the committee and experts and consultants can be invited to attend meetings when necessary.