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Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Press Release 2007

APEC Symposium on Trade Facilitation 2007 concludes today
Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Experts from Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) continued to have discussions on the second day (June 5) of the APEC Trade Facilitation Symposium 2007 held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The exchange took the form of roundtable discussions, focusing on movement of goods and mobility of business people.

The Director-General of Trade and Industry, Mr Joseph Lai, was pleased to see that fellow APEC economies were all moving, in the same direction to facilitate trade, through approaches suitable to their individual circumstances.

Mr Lai noted that a commonality amongst APEC economies was the effect being made to maintain a right balance between facilitating trade and protecting overall public interests through the use of risk management and advanced technologies.

There were also increased efforts by APEC economies to reduce red tapes and to integrate procedures through better use of information technologies, Mr Lai said.

A total of nine speakers gave presentations, including representatives from Immigration Department and Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, as well as representatives from Australia, Chile, China, Japan, Korea, Peru and Vietnam.

The Assistant Director of the Immigration Department, Ms Helen Chan, gave an overview of the Government's policies and measures on facilitating movement of visitors and business travellers; attracting entry of professionals, talents and investors; and enhancing immigration clearance and security control.

The Deputy Head of Control Points Command (Operations)of the Customs and Excise Department, Mr C K Chow, briefed the participants on movements of cargo; Customs' role as a gatekeeper and trade facilitator; and clearance facilitation.

On movement of goods, APEC representatives shared their experience in achieving the common goals of reduced paperwork and enhancement of risk management. Participants all agreed that IT development played a vital role in reducing paperwork in customs clearance and hence the time needed to move goods across borders.

On business mobility, discussions were carried out on how the APEC economies could improve the operation of the system, by reducing the lead time for processing applications and increasing the transparency of the procedures.

Participants agreed that security and anti-fraud features of identity and travel document contributed significantly to confidence building.

Overseas participants also visited the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals and the Hong Kong International Airport in the afternoon.

APEC has 21 member economies - Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Republic of Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Republic of the Philippines; the Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States and Vietnam.

The powerpoint presentations of the speakers, where available, will be uploaded to the Trade and Industry Department's website http://www.tid.gov.hk/english/trade_relations/tradefora/apec_symposium.html after today.


Ends