Chinese Mainland, Macao deepen economic ties with new agreement

Authorities of the Chinese Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Wednesday signed a new supplemental agreement here which will further open the Mainland market to investments from Macao.

The supplement V to the Mainland and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was signed by the central government's Vice Minister of Commerce, Jiang Zengwei, and the SAR's Secretary for Economy and Finance, Tam Pak Yuen. A similar supplement was also signed between the Mainland and Hong Kong SAR yesterday.

First signed by the two sides in 2003, the contents of CEPA have been expanded since then with the signing of a new supplement annually in the following years.

Supplement V introduces 28 new measures aimed to deepen the ongoing liberalization of 16 service sectors in the Mainland, and open two more sectors concerning mining and technology to Macao enterprises, which will come into force on Jan. 1, 2009, according to the press statement from the SAR government.

The total number of service sectors covered by the CEPA and its supplements will thereby be expanded to 40, and, under the new supplement, the central government agreed to facilitate Macao enterprises to invest in the Mainland market by lifting the restrictions on amounts of investment and the proportion of joint venture investment in these sectors. The two sides also reached agreement on cooperation in trademark protection.

The signing of the Supplement V shows the central government's support for the SAR's economic development, and it is "bound to benefit Macao", said Jiang, adding that after the signing of the supplement, Macao enterprises will enjoy up to 209 preferential measures in the Mainland.