Hong Kong’s service industry will be allowed greater access to the mainland, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang assured on Wednesday.

On the second day of his official three-day visit to the SAR, Li said the central government plans to broaden market access for the city’s traditional and emerging service sectors, including medical, construction, legal, as well as testing and certification services.

The new policies will also render support for local travel agencies wishing to set up shop on the mainland, Li said in a keynote address entitled “Step Up Cooperation for Development and Prosperity” at the Forum on the National Five-Year Plan and Economic, Trade and Financial Cooperation and Development at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The thresholds for suppliers of professional services will also be lowered in the interest of implementing favorable policies for Hong Kong enterprises under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), while the central government will continue to push the“early and pilot implementation” exercises in Guangdong and other provinces and municipalities, Li said.

“The aim is to basically realize a full liberalization of trade in services between the two sides by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan,” he said.

Li Kui-wai, associate professor of the Department of Economics and Finance at the City University of Hong Kong, told China Daily he believes the vice-premier’s promises represent crucial steps toward increased cooperation from both sides, as well as the implementation of CEPA.

“The mainland was still less liberated in trade services exchanges between the two sides in the past, though Hong Kong was always ready. The measures unveiled on Wednesday will facilitate freer flow of goods and personnel between the two sides, rendering Hong Kong the opportunity to give full play to its competitive industries,” Li Kui-wai said.

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said on Wednesday that coupled with the advantages of CEPA and Hong Kong’s excellent international network, the service industry on the mainland and Hong Kong could play complementary roles to help achieve sustainable development for both sides.

“In a further extension of CEPA, Hong Kong service providers will be given greater access to the mainland’s service industry. This should further shore up the territory’s ability to repel the impact of weakening western demand,” an HSBC report said on Wednesday.

From a growth perspective, the report said Wednesday’s announcements should enhance Hong Kong’s exposure to the mainland’s growth momentum, giving the city a more effective cushioning against rising global economic headwinds.

In the five-year blueprint released in March, the central government, for the first time, in a separate chapter highlighted Hong Kong’s economic role in the nation commencing this year and for the next half decade.

According to the plan, the central government will continue to support Hong Kong in developing its finance, shipping, logistics, tourism, professional services, information and other high value-added services over the next five years.

In his 2009 Policy Address, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen pledged that Hong Kong will promote the development of six industries in which Hong Kong has clear advantages — testing and certification, medical services, innovation and technology, cultural and creative industries, environmental industries and education services — which were crucial to the development of Hong Kong’s economy and would propel the city towards a knowledge-based economy.