Grasp the chance: Financial Secretary Henry Tang says CEPA has put Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta on the verge of a new cycle of growth and prosperity. While the Government will do its best to facilitate this process, businesses should make sure these opportunities germinate - and capture their potential.

To help in the integration of the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong people must change their mindset, Financial Secretary Henry Tang said today.

We must recognise that the boundary at Lo Wu ensures the integrity of  'one country, two systems' - but Hong Kong does not stop at that boundary, he said.

Speaking at the Second Pearl River Delta Conference at the Convention & Exhibition Centre today, Mr Tang noted that Macao and the mainland would today sign their own Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

"The bridge that we will be building - the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge - is going to make leaps and bounds gains to bring us closer to our brothers just on the other side of the Pearl River estuary," he said.

Macau's CEPA to open up more oppportunities for HK

"I think the CEPA that they are going to sign will enhance the relationship between Macao, the Mainland and also Hong Kong. I believe there will be other opportunities that we could take advantage of after they have signed it."

He stressed that CEPA is an open and continuous process, and an open platform for businesses to capture the opportunities that are opening up to them - "an opportunity of a lifetime".

He repeated Premier Wen Jiabao's recent statement: "CEPA is not the Central People's Government's gift to Hong Kong. The Central People's Government's gift to Hong Kong was the 'One Country, Two Systems'. CEPA is a bilateral open channel to improve and to facilitate trade and investment between the Mainland and Hong Kong."

Business must capture the opportunities presented

The Government believes in market-driven economies, he said. "If the marketers can do it properly themselves, leave it to the market, we will not intervene in it. Our job is to open up markets, lay down the platform; but it is up to the businesses themselves to capture those opportunities."

Asked whether he thought the renminbi would go up or down or remain the same, the Financial Secretary said it would remain stable.

"I cannot emphasise enough the importance of having a stable currency to enhance and promote trade, business and the stability of the whole country. So my outlook: Stable."