Good evening, Dear Fellows,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for giving me this chance to report
on the activities and programmes organised by the Americas Committee in 1999. On behalf of
the Americas Committee, I am delighted to report on a few select programmes that we
conducted in the past year.
During 1999, we welcomed more than 50 inbound
delegations and individual visitors from the U.S., Latin America and Canada, which
resulted in a substantial amount of mutually beneficial business opportunities for
members. Working in cooperation with the American Consulate General in Hong Kong and the
Hong Kong Government Information Services Department, we were able to arrange regular
speaking forums for a number of local prominent business people, as well as inbound
academics, researchers, businessmen and politicians from the U.S.
We also regularly alerted members to trade
policies which may affect business between Hong Kong, China and the Americas.
In May last year, for example, a report
entitled TThe Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military / Commercial
Concerns with the PRC," (The Cox Report) recommended that
the U.S. conduct studies on customs arrangements maintained by Hong Kong with respect to
the PRC. It also reviewed whether it was appropriate to continue treating the Hong Kong
SAR differently from the PRC for U.S. export control purposes.
To protect members' business interests, the
Chamber immediately responded by conducting meetings with trade department officials who
reconfirmed the effectiveness of Hong Kong's strategic trade control system. It also
initiated internal research to monitor the progress of the State Department Authorisation
Bill, published details of the Cox Report in the Chamber's magazine, The Bulletin, for
members to analyse, and organised a roundtable to update members on the developments of
the issue.
In August, the Chamber organised another U.S.
Congressional staffers visit, with the objective of allowing staffers to witness for
themselves the actual trade control and operations of various government and
non-government bodies in Hong Kong. The visit proved to be an effective vehicle to change
overseas misconceptions about Hong Kong's trade control, particularly its role as an
entrepot for Sino-U.S. trade.
After 13 years of negotiations, China finally
signed a WTO accord with the U.S. on November 15. During the year, besides lending its
support to the Chamber WTO report, the Committee initiated several roundtable discussions
on China¡¦s WTO membership and its impact on trade between the
U.S., China and Hong Kong.
The Chamber took a pro-active approach by
encouraging members to solicit support from their business counterparts in the U.S. to
lobby Congress to grant China NTR status. In addition, the staffers' visit to Hong Kong,
mentioned above, also proved to be an effective lobbying vehicle.
Last year in July, the U.S. decided to extend
NTR status to China for another year. This year, with the Sino-U.S. WTO accord, the U.S.
Congress has to vote on whether to grant China Permanent NTR and the Chamber will continue
its lobbying effort to this end.
We constantly remind ourselves that the
Chamber aims to safeguard the interests of members and help them do business. In the
coming year, the Americas Committee and I will do our best to promote business cooperation
between Hong Kong and countries of the Americas and continue our effort to monitor
U.S.-China trade relations to protect the interest of the local business community.
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