30 January 2004

Dear Fellow Engineer

Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

The CEPA was signed more than 6 months ago and has come into full implementation since 1 January 2004. Nevertheless, engineers will not be fully benefited from the Agreement.

Up to now, little headway has been made on mutual recognition of engineering qualifications. Even the thresholds as stipulated in the CEPA for Hong Kong engineering companies to set up business in the Mainland are set too high. 

Because of its significance to the engineering profession, in order to persuade the Mainland authorities to liberalise their markets further to individual Hong Kong engineers and engineering firms, I made a day-return trip to Beijing shortly before Christmas and met with Mr Chen Zuoer (陳佐洱) －Deputy Director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (國務院港澳辦副主任) to discuss the subject. 

At the meeting, I briefed Mr Chen on the difficulties currently encountered by Hong Kong engineering sector with a view to enlist his help in expediting the conclusion of a formal agreement on mutual recognition of engineering qualifications. 

I suggested that the mutual recognition of engineering qualifications could commence with structural engineers. The structural engineers are chosen as the starting point simply because the existing joint examination arrangement in the Mainland for Hong Kong and Mainland structural engineers provides a very good basis for moving forward to a full mutual recognition of qualifications in the discipline. The move would then set in motion the discussion on mutual recognition for other engineering disciplines. 

As a matter of fact, we have lagged behind other construction industry related professionals, such as architects and surveyors in this respect. In September last year, I led a delegation visiting different ministries in Beijing and met with state leaders at the People's Great Hall. We were told by the Ministry of Construction that they would rather first deal with mutual recognition of architects and surveyors.

On the issue of the entry of Hong Kong engineering firms into the Mainland, I also asked Mr Chen to adopt administrative measures as soon as possible to lower the thresholds set in the CEPA for Hong Kong engineering companies wishing to set up business in the Mainland.

Being fully aware of the fact that it will take some time to reach an agreement on the mutual recognition of engineering qualifications due to its complexity and the urgency in addressing the severe unemployment of local engineering sector in Hong Kong, I requested Mr Chen at the meeting to assist us in finding job openings in design institutes or construction sites in the Mainland for Engineers in Hong Kong, particularly young engineers.

As early as in September last year, I already submitted a 7-point proposal to state leaders when I visited Beijing. Among other suggestions, I urged the Central Government to allow Registered Professional Engineers (RPEs) of Hong Kong to be qualified automatically as “construction supervising engineers” and “engineering project managers” under the Mainland system. The proposal was discussed and a preliminary implementation plan has been worked out. I have already offered my assistance to Mr Henry Tang, the Financial Secretary to implement the proposal. The arrangement if accepted by the Mainland would facilitate RPEs of Hong Kong to take up related work in the Mainland. In anticipating that more Hong Kong engineers will work in the Mainland and vice versa, I also suggested that more interaction and exchanges between Mainland and Hong Kong young engineers be promoted.

I will continue to liaise with relevant authorities in both the Mainland and Hong Kong and will keep you posted of the latest development. 

Yours,



(signed)
Ir Dr Raymond Ho Chung-tai