CHLOE LAI

The business community will be consulted early next year on the third phase of the free-trade pact between Hong Kong and the mainland, the commerce chief said yesterday.

Both sides would be able to strike a deal on the third stage "around this time next year", Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang Chun-wah said after a seminar on the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

He had no explanation for the drop in domestic exports to the mainland in the nine months since the first phase of the pact came into effect on January 1.