ASEAN signs free trade, investment pacts with Hong Kong (Source: abs-cbn.com)
Manila (VNA) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) andChina’s Hong Kong signed a free trade agreement and a bilateral investment pacton November 12 on the sidelines of the 31st ASEAN Summit and relatedmeetings in Manila, the Philippines.
The pacts,which needed nearly three years of talks, are expected to become effective onJanuary 1, 2018, and help the two sides gain deeper and bolder access to eachother’s market and intensify bilateral trade and investment.
Hong KongSecretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said that theagreements will create new business opportunities, and enhance trade andinvestment flows for Hong Kong businesspeople.
“In the faceof protectionist sentiments in other parts of the world, these two agreementsare in fact a loud and clear vote from all of us here for freer and more opentrade,” Yau said.
Meanwhile,Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said that they will bringabout more job opportunities for the region’s people and businesses,particularly small firms.
ASEAN andHong Kong began their negotiations on the two pacts in July 2014 and completedthem in September 2017.
ASEAN was HongKong’s second largest goods trade partner in 2016 and fourth services tradepartner in 2015. Meanwhile, Hong Kong was the bloc’s sixth trade partner in2016, with trade turnover hitting 107 billion USD, accounting for over 4percent of the bloc’s total trade values.
Hong Kong’sdirect investment in ASEAN reached 9.6 billion USD last year, making up 9.9percent of the total FDI in the bloc.-VNA
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ASEAN signs free trade, investment pacts with Hong Kong (Source: abs-cbn.com) 
