ENG-2015 — Page 44

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Constitution and Administration

and set directions for future co-operation in areas including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone, the liberalisation of trade in services, financial services, professional services, innovation and technology, environmental protection, youth and education.

Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin are major platforms for promoting co-operation among Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Macao. The HKSAR Government has been keeping close contact with Mainland authorities on the planning and development of these three areas. It also joined a meeting of the Inter-ministries Joint Conference on the Promotion of the Development of Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin in Guangdong, which was chaired by the National Development and Reform Commission, and reflected the views of Hong Kong businesses to the Mainland authorities.

The three areas have adopted a number of policies and measures offering favourable treatment to Hong Kong people and enterprises, such as introducing a 15 per cent enterprise tax for eligible companies in Qianhai and Hengqin; allowing Hong Kong and Mainland law firms to form partnerships in Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin; and, in July 2015, extending a cross-border Renminbi pilot loan scheme from Qianhai to Nansha and Hengqin. Hong Kong people and enterprises entering the Qianhai market are to receive substantive support under a Work Plan on Promoting the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Co-operation in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Co-operation Zone in Qianhai, issued by the Shenzhen Municipal Government in December 2014. The Qianhai Authority has also agreed to arrange pilot construction projects allowing accredited Hong Kong professionals and enterprises in construction and engineering to provide services directly in Qianhai.

Hong Kong and Shenzhen also made progress on co-operation in areas including Qianhai development, financial services, cross-boundary infrastructure, youth, medical services and environmental protection.

The Hong Kong-Fujian Co-operation Conference was set up in January 2015 to enhance exchanges and co-operation and to promote development of the two places. Both sides. signed two agreements on strengthening economic and trade co-operation as well as financial Co-operation.

The Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region comprises the Hong Kong and Macao SARs and nine provinces/autonomous regions of the Mainland. In December 2015, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs attended the 2015 PPRD Region Chief Executives' Joint Conference on behalf of the HKSAR Government to promote Hong Kong's unique role in deepening PPRD co-operation during the National 13th Five-Year Plan period.

In April 2015, the Chief Executive and the Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal Government convened the Third Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Shanghai Economic and Trade Co-operation Conference. The two places reached consensus on 27 co-operation initiatives and signed three co-operation agreements covering finance, commerce and civil service exchange.

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