Susan Lavender believes Cepa offers unlimited business opportunities for Italian companies

Cepa, or the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, allows for certain products, manufactured in Hong Kong, to enter the mainland market tariff-free. More details on Cepa.

"Gelato is already world famous, and is increasingly popular in China," explains Ms Lavender. "Italy and China have had a long history of trading food; in fact Chinese dumplings may be derived from tortellini, from the Bologna region, or vice versa!"

Outside the ice cream industry, Cepa could also establish a role for Hong Kong in the manufacture of high-value, or brand name goods. Cepa covers many kinds of garments, and companies interested in selling to mainland consumers, may now choose to  manufacture various products in Hong Kong, for duty free export to China.

Italian chic is already much in evidence across Hong Kong. Leading fashion houses have boutiques across the city, catering to style conscious Asian shoppers. Armani, for example, has based its largest store, outside Milan, in Hong Kong.

Ms Lavender says the combination of strong protection of intellectual property rights, and the impact of Cepa on high-value goods can play an important role in the attractiveness of Hong Kong as a base for Italian luxury brands. "Many Italian companies have incorporated Hong Kong subsidiaries to use as their base for accessing the China market," says Ms Lavender.

Closer to home, Ms Lavender says her industry is also set to benefit. "Under Cepa, mainland law firms can now employ Hong Kong lawyers, and Hong Kong lawyers, who are permanent residents, with Chinese citizenship, can qualify to practise as mainland lawyers in non-litigation legal work for mainland law firms.  This effectively means that although they can't go to court, they will be able to practise on the mainland, even though they cannot practise mainland law from their Hong Kong law firm's mainland representative office.  However, Hong Kong law firms, which have established a mainland representative office, can enter into an association with a mainland law firm.

In many respects, explains Ms Lavender, Cepa is more than a free trade agreement. "Cepa is a real demonstration that China views Hong Kong as playing a key role in the development of its economy at this crucial stage. Hong Kong is the "Pearl of the East" and its fundamental role in China will always remain an important one."

"And the great thing about Cepa is that it is not a contract set in stone. It will continue to evolve and it could offer up new opportunities even for overseas companies which have committed to Hong Kong," she says.

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