City signs MOU with US on wine-related business
US ecretary of Commerce Gary Locke (left) and Rita Lau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, toast after the signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in wine-related business in Hong Kong Monday. Edmond Tang / China Daily |
Hong Kong Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with the US on cooperation in wine-related business, further strengthening the city’s status as a regional wine center.
The agreement was signed by Rita Lau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development and visiting US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who is leading a delegation of 24 American firms on a clean energy business development trade mission in Asia, with a first stop in the city.
Lau said Hong Kong and the US have been maintaining healthy and robust bilateral business relations. With this agreement, Lau expects joint efforts to be strengthened in promoting wine-related trade, tourism, investment and education.
“The memorandum also covers a number of special areas. These include promoting wine alongside regional and local cuisine, facilitating the organization of wine auctions in Hong Kong for US wines and encouraging the provision of quality wine storage facilities in Hong Kong,” Lau said.
Hong Kong scrapped wine duties in early 2008 and has carried out various supportive measures to boost the city’s status as a regional wine distribution and trading center.
As one of the world’s leading wine producers and exporters, the US is Hong Kong’s fourth-largest wine exporter. Wine imports from the US amounted to $49 million in 2009-2010, representing a five-fold increase since Hong Kong’s duty exemption.
Since the exemption of wine duties, US auction houses have held regular wine auctions in the city, generating record-breaking sales in several auctions.
The signing of the wine-business agreement is just an appetizer for Locke’s Asia trip, which includes an important stop on the Chinese mainland later in the week.
The main purpose of Locke’s 10-day trade mission to Asia is to promote US clean energy exports and investments, particularly those targeting the mainland.
Beijing has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions per unit of economic output by 40 percent to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. It has also resolved to produce at least 15 percent of the country’s primary energy from non-fossil fuel by the same deadline.
Locke said that the 24 companies joining him on his trip “represent a cross-section of the best that America has to offer in clean energy, energy efficiency and electricity storage, transmission and distribution,” and that the Chinese market is what US companies are “eager to tap.”
He further indicated that cooperation between the two sides in developing clean-energy technologies has the potential to create millions of jobs for the US.
The trip, which marks the Obama administration’s first cabinet-level trade mission in Asia will continue through May 26 and make stops in Shanghai, Beijing and Jakarta. It has come just a few months after Obama unveiled details of his National Export Initiative, which aims to double US exports within five years to support job growth.
Locke is also due to participate in the annual Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue scheduled for May 24-25 in Beijing, the two countries’ main forum for addressing foreign policy and economic issues.
CHINA DAILY
(HK Edition 05/18/2010 page3)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2010-05/18/content_9860142.htm