The new agreement will also encourage mainland tourist groups on their way to Taiwan to visit Hong Kong in transit. The aim is to help the travel sector develop multi-destination tourism packages.

Under the original agreement, the mainland exempted tariffs for all products of Hong Kong origin and gave preferential treatment to Hong Kong service suppliers.

Tsang also said the new measures will help mitigate the impact of the ongoing economic downturn. They will take effect on October the first, four months earlier than originally anticipated.

Editor:Zhang Ning