The Mainland & Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) has created 36,000 new jobs for Hong Kong people from 2004 to 2006, and 1,000 more for those working on the Mainland.

These are the findings of the Hong Kong SAR Government's second study on CEPA's economic impact, submitted to the Legislative Council.

It forecasts another 3,600 jobs will be created in Hong Kong this year.

For trade in goods, it said 89 percent of responding companies considered CEPA beneficial to the economy, and 77 percent felt the preferential trade arrangement was beneficial to the manufacturing sector.

CEPA induced additional capital investment in the manufacturing industry, amounting to 305 million HK dollars in 2005 and 2006, and a planned investment of 240 million dollars in 2007 and beyond.

Moreover, mainland people using the Individual Visit Scheme had made 17.2 million trips to Hong Kong as at the end of 2006, accounting for 39 percent of all the Mainland visitors.

They generated an additional 9.3 billion HK dollars in tourist spending in 2006, almost 38 percent higher than in 2004.

Source:CRIENGLISH.com