Macau to strengthen trade ties with Mainland China

Xinhua News reported on May 11, 2009 that the Chinese mainland government  signed an agreement to facilitate trade and investment with the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR), opening the vast Mainland market to the SAR through a series of trade deals and policy measures.

In an effort to support the development of the SAR and forge closer trade  ties between the two sides, Supplement VI to the Mainland and Macau Closer  Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was signed by Secretary for Economy and  Finance of the SAR government and the central government’s Vice Minister of
Commerce.

The first phase of CEPA between the Mainland and the Macau SAR was implemented on January 1, 2004. Following this, six supplements to the trade agreement were signed as a progressive effort to open the Mainland market to Macau.

31 new policy measures are included in Supplement VI, which will take effect on Oct. 1, 2009. These measures pertain to the Meeting, Incentive,  Convention, and Exhibition industries and medical services. Service providers in the  SAR will be allowed to organize exhibitions in the form of cross-border supply
in major Chinese municipalities, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing, and provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian on a pilot basis. The new supplementary protocol also lowers the entrance requirements for medical services sector. Macau service providers will be allowed to run health  clinics and work as pharmacists respectively in the mainland so long as they have  the relevant licenses.
In a bid to strengthen bilateral trade and tourism ties, the Macau SAR held trade talks recently with the heads of the Chinese mainlands provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.

Source: Transportweekly