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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/274

TRADE POLICY REVIEW:

Strong open economy in expansion, capable of facing challenges

The performance of the Hong Kong, China economy and its outlook have greatly improved since 2003, largely as a result of its continued openness to trade and foreign investment as well as a solid services sector, the driving force behind growth, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (HKSAR).

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The report notes inter alia the importance of recent developments in the enforcement of intellectual property rights protection, the prospects for a comprehensive competition law, rice trade liberalization and the positive impact of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with China, which has given an added stimulus to the HKSAR economy.

The report also stresses that competitiveness in Hong Kong, China will remain dependant on maintaining the traditional strengths in the economy and developing new sources of growth. Potential risks to its economic growth prospects might come inter alia from a steeper than expected rise in US interest rates and an outbreak of protectionist measures against China.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 146KB)
  > Economic environment (19 pages,538KB)
  > Trade and investment regimes (10 pages, 113KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (43 pages, 603KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (36 pages, 435KB)
  > Appendix tables (16 pages,338KB)
    
• Government report (24 pages, 235KB)
    

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

Chad : 15 and 17 January 2007
Japan : 31 January and 2 February 2007
Argentina : 12 and 14 February 2007

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