Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-25-Speech-3-190"
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"en.20001025.7.3-190"2
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".
Mr President, as draftsman of the opinion of my committee, I would like to highlight the importance of Hong Kong in terms of international trade. Back in 1997, Hong Kong was ranked eighth in the list of major world trading powers and tenth in the list of European Union trading partners. Since then, and despite the Asian financial crisis, trade relations between the European Union and Hong Kong have gone from strength to strength.
As far as relations between Hong Kong and its international trading partners are concerned, more specifically the World Trade Organisation, the EU and Hong Kong share a number of common goals and the two work very closely together, which is useful in the light of the forthcoming trade round.
In my recommendation, I referred to the important role which Hong Kong could play when China joined the World Trade Organisation. Hong Kong could show China how an open, fully integrated market can play a leading role in the region and can in this way achieve economic development and sustained growth.
Moreover, since Hong Kong constitutes a major sales market for China, Hong Kong can exercise influence on economic reform in China. For these reasons, we must stress the importance of closer cooperation between the European Union and Hong Kong in financial terms and in terms of trade and direct foreign investments.
Hong Kong has concluded many bilateral agreements over the past few years. We should bear in mind that in the framework of the EU-China agreement with regard to the possible accession of China to the World Trade Organisation, these bilateral agreements will need to be reviewed.
Although, economically speaking, we are right to term the relationship with Hong Kong a success, I should highlight a number of drawbacks, including the fact that the protection of intellectual property rights remains a huge problem. Our companies are still being faced with violations of copyright and the manufacture and sale of counterfeit products.
We also have concerns in the social field. After all, working conditions reportedly leave a great deal to be desired, especially vis-à-vis immigrant workers. As far as the inquiry is concerned, we must call for both Hong Kong and the European Union to play a valuable role in the many projects which are in the pipeline."@en1
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