Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners in Hong Kong will receive more support from the mainland in areas such as staff training, in a bid to better promote TCM in the global market, a senior health official said on Sunday.

Wang Guoqiang, vice-minister of health, said that an agreement on TCM cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong will be signed shortly, though the details and date are not yet decided. The agreement will allow Hong Kong practitioners to access TCM resources on the mainland in the future.

As overseas demand for TCM increases, Hong Kong will be a vital platform for TCM to enter the global market, said Wang, who is also a delegate to the ongoing 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Wang will pay a visit to Hong Kong in December, which will focus on improving TCM services there, and on promoting TCM services globally.

Wang said that it is entirely possible for TCM products to be registered in markets such as Europe. However, he added that European governments should be more tolerant when it comes to TCM because it's a compound medicine that can’t be regulated with the laboratory standards used in Western medicine.