HONG KONG, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The signing and launching of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is an important milestone for economic integration in the region, and Hong Kong is keenly interested in joining the partnership, an official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Monday.
Edward Yau, secretary for commerce and economic development of the HKSAR government, made the remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting.
With the high-standard free trade agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Australia and New Zealand already in place on top of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, Hong Kong is keenly interested in joining the RCEP, Yau said.
He also highlighted the importance of the rules-based multilateral trading system amid the pandemic, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) as its core, in maintaining stability for international trade and bringing back economic growth. He said one of the most urgent tasks is to restore a fully functioning multilateral trading system through constructively helping the WTO to reform and improve but without grinding its functions to a halt.
Yau said that Hong Kong would continue its dialogue with other APEC member economies with a view to expanding with full health precautions, its air travel bubble network across the region, adding that doing so would open up a lot of business opportunities in public health, testing and services in support of the new form of trading in the post-pandemic era.
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