ENG-2007 — Page 153

Commerce and Industry 109

after Hong Kong's economic and trade relations with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

External Commercial Relations

Hong Kong's Participation in the World Trade Organisation

The HKSAR is a founding member of the WTO and has continued its separate membership in the WTO since July 1, 1997 under the name of 'Hong Kong, China'. Hong Kong's participation in the WTO is guided by two objectives, namely to sustain the momentum of trade liberalisation, especially in areas of interest to the HKSAR, such as tariffs and services, and to strengthen the multilateral rules-based trading system so that it remains an effective framework to promote trade expansion and liberalisation; as well as to protect the HKSAR 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. In December 2005, the HKSAR hosted the WTO Sixth Ministerial Conference which provided a launching pad for the multilateral trade negotiations to enter the final phase in 2006. Although the negotiations, once suspended due to persistence of different positions of major players, were resumed across the board in February 2007, WTO members were unable to reach consensus and were still working to converge views on the negotiation process as well as the substance. The HKSAR will continue to play an active and constructive role in the intensified negotiations and push for its timely and successful conclusion.

Regional Economic Cooperation

As an important services, financial and trading centre as well as an integral part of the Asia-Pacific economy, Hong Kong continued to play an active role in enhancing regional economic cooperation. In 2007, some 84 per cent of Hong Kong's external trade was conducted with the other 20 member economies of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Hong Kong participates as a full and separate member in APEC under the name of 'Hong Kong, China'.

APEC is a regional forum for high-level government-to-government dialogue and cooperation on trade and economic issues. In September 2007, the Chief Executive represented Hong Kong at the 15th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Sydney. The meeting was preceded by the 19th APEC Ministerial Meeting, where Hong Kong was represented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development.

APEC pursues its goal of free and open trade and investment by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies through work in trade and investment liberalisation, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation. Hong Kong participates actively in all three areas. The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) is a non-governmental regional forum comprising government officials, business leaders and academics working on policy issues to