Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday that Taiwan and Hong Kong were very close to forging an agreement on passenger and cargo quantities in aviation negotiations and said that both sides exchanged draft accords yesterday.
Taiwan and Hong Kong held second-round negotiations in Hong Kong yesterday to find an agreement to continue the air links between the two sides.
According to a statement issued by the MAC yesterday evening, both of the sides are near agreement on the matters of the quantities of passengers and cargo.
The MAC also said that both sides have exchanged a draft accord for further study and will find a proper date for a third round of talks on the individual items of the draft.
Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏), director of the MAC's Department of Research and Planning, and Chang Kuo-cheng (張國政), director-general of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), are the two key negotiators representing Taiwan in the talks, while Cathay and Dragon Air officials are representing the Hong Kong side. Jan is taking part in his capacity as senior consultant to the Taipei Airlines Association.
The existing five-year Taiwan-Hong Kong air pact was signed June 12, 1996, by the four airlines plying the Taiwan-Hong Kong route -- Taiwan's China Airlines (華航) and EVA Airways (長榮航空), and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragon Airlines.
Before the accord expired last June, the MAC proposed official involvement in the negotiations for a new pact. The Hong Kong authorities, however, rejected the proposal. In the end, the old pact has been extended twice, the second time to the end of this June.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
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