The Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shen Danyang speaks at a regular briefing on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 in Beijing. [Photo: mofcom.gov.cn]

Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shen Danyang says the economic partnership between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong has brought substantial benefits to the special administrative region's economy.

Shen made the remark to the media on Tuesday, saying the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement has greatly increased the prosperity and stability of the Hong Kong economy.

"Since 2003, Chinese mainland and Hong Kong has signed CEPA and its ensuing 10 supplements, including one ensuring the service trade liberalization in Hong Kong and Guangdong province. The two sides have also signed a stand-alone, subsidiary agreement under the CEPA framework to liberalize the services sector. All the above have boosted trade, tourism and business ties between the two sides."

Shen adds that the agreement assigned zero tariffs to all Hong Kong products, and the mainland imported almost 10 billion U.S. dollars of goods from Hong Kong between 2006 and March 2016, with tax abatement reaching 800 million U.S. dollars.

Trade in services has also thrived with its volume accounting for around 17 percent of the mainland's total service trade.

Mainland tourist visits to Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme rose from 670 thousand in 2003 to almost 28 million last year.

By 2014, such visits had generated over 99 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for Hong Kong.