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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 18, 2003

Mainland, Macao sign closer economic ties pact

The Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and its six annexes were signed Friday afternoon.


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The Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and its six annexes were signed Friday afternoon.

Vice Minister of Commerce An Min, and Macao's Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen signed the pact on behalf of the Central government and the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government.

The trade pact will be put into force on Jan. 1, 2004.

Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong and Chief Executive of the Macao SAR government Edmund Ho Hau Wah attended the signing ceremony.

Consultation over CEPA started on June 20 this year. After several rounds of meetings, the two sides reached agreement on three major areas, namely trade in goods, trade in services and trade and investment facilitation.

According to the pact, 273 taxation categories of Macao products will enjoy zero tariffs when entering the mainland and local firms and professionals will be granted easier access to the mainland market.

Experts noted that the WTO-compliant pact goes in line with the "One country, two systems" policy, which would surely lessen and eliminate institutional obstacles on trade and investment between the mainland and Macao, and promote the trade and economic cooperation between the two sides.


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