A report on the trade policies and practices of Hong Kong, China, released December 18 by the WTO Secretariat, says that the territory maintains an open trade and foreign investment regime which has been crucial for withstanding external shocks such as the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 and the global economic slowdown in 2001.

The report also notes that Hong Kong, China has had to face considerable structural adjustment associated with its growing integration into the rest of China, and that the approach of allowing market forces to allocate resources remains, by and large, in place. However, partly as a result of the economic downturn, the Government would seem to have become more proactive in promoting value-added activities.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (9 pages, 79KB)
  > Economic environment (12 pages, 298KB)
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (5 pages, 49KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (32 pages, 235KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (27 pages, 493KB)
  > Appendix tables (12 pages, 125KB)
    

• Government report(23 pages, 171KB)
    

• Chairperson's concluding remarks
    

• Minutes of the meeting are available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.

  

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

Maldives: 15, 17 January 2003
El Salvador: 3, 5 February 2003
Canada: 12, 14 March 2003