In response to media enquiries, the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office gave the following reply:
      
     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, met with the Commissioner of Police, Mr Lo Wai-chung, and representatives from four police officers' associations this morning (July 30).

     During the one-hour candid and useful meeting, Mr Cheung listened carefully to views of the representatives of the police officers’ associations on the difficulties and challenges faced by police officers when maintaining order for the spate of large-scale processions and protests held in recent weeks and taking enforcement actions against violence and damages subsequent to some of these events.  Mr Cheung reiterated that he gave his full support and recognition to the enforcement actions taken by the police officers.  Despite tremendous pressure faced by police officers in such difficult time, Mr Cheung paid warm tribute to the police force and expressed heartfelt appreciation for their dedication in fulfilling duties without fear, demonstration of professionalism in maintaining law and order in Hong Kong and protecting the lives and properties of Hong Kong people. The rule of law is the cornerstone of Hong Kong’s success and the police force plays a vitally important role in this respect.
     

     The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip, and the Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Andy Chan, together with five students who joined the "Be a Government Official for a Day" programme this year and last year, as well as 10 summer interns working in the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau and Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Guangdong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, visited Shenzhen and Dongguan today (July 30) to see for themselves the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) cities. They also exchanged views with Mainland scholars and Hong Kong young people who started businesses there.

     Upon arrival in Shenzhen this morning, the group visited a high-tech enterprise specialising in cultural technology to learn about its development of theme parks with a culture-and-technology mix, comics and animation products as well as movie system with special effects.

     They then met with several Mainland scholars to exchange views on the development of Hong Kong and the Mainland as well as mutually beneficial co-operation between two places.

     The group departed for the Songshan Lake Xbot Park in Dongguan in the afternoon to keep abreast of the development of the robot industry in Dongguan and the co-operation between universities in Hong Kong and the Mainland on nurturing talents for the industry. They also toured two enterprises in the park specialising in biomedical engineering and robot development.

     Afterwards, they visited an innovation and entrepreneurship base for Hong Kong and Macao youths in Songshan Lake and met with young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong stationed in the base to gain a better understanding on starting business in the Mainland.

     The group will return to Hong Kong this evening.

      

     A Government spokesman said today (July 30) that the Chief Executive (CE), politically appointed officials and Members of the Executive Council (ExCo) have updated their annual declarations of interests, and the updated declarations are available on government websites for public inspection.
 
     The updated declaration of interests of the CE has been uploaded to the website of the Chief Executive's Office (www.ceo.gov.hk/eng/links.html). The declarations of interests of politically appointed officials, made in accordance with the Code for Officials under the Political Appointment System (PAO Code), have also been updated and uploaded to the websites of the respective offices or bureaux.
 
     Information on the registrable interests of ExCo Members (including the President as well as Official and Non-official Members) has also been uploaded to the ExCo website after updating (www.ceo.gov.hk/exco/eng/interests.html).
 
     The PAO Code stipulates that politically appointed officials shall declare their investments and interests on appointment and annually thereafter. These declarations are uploaded to the websites of the respective offices or bureaux. The CE voluntarily observes the above declaration arrangement. ExCo Members are likewise required to declare their registrable interests on appointment and annually thereafter. These declarations are uploaded to the ExCo website.

     A man was convicted and sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment today (July 30) at the District Court for using express air parcels to smuggle helmeted hornbill beaks, in contravention of the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (PESO).

     Officers from Hong Kong Customs inspected two express air parcels arriving from Malaysia at Hong Kong International Airport on January 9 this year and found 27 helmeted hornbill beaks weighing about 3 kilograms in total. Upon a follow-up investigation, the 36-year-old man in connection with the case was arrested.

     Under the PESO, any person found guilty of importing or exporting an endangered species without a licence is liable to a maximum fine of $10 million and imprisonment for 10 years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

The following is issued on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund:
 
     The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund (the Fund) held a ceremony today (July 30) to award scholarships, totalling $6.31 million, to 14 young talents in music and dance to support them in continuing their studies in Hong Kong or abroad. 
 
     The 14 awardees are Miss Christiana de Blank, Mr Giuseppe Fu, Miss Fung Kai-sze, Miss Kwong Lai-ping, Miss Lai Pui-ki, Mr Lau Shing-ho, Mr Dominic Law, Miss Fifi Lee, Mr Luk Wai-chun, Miss Ma Cheuk-lam, Mr Tam Chun-him, Miss Meilina Tsui, Mr Wong Sum-ho and Miss Cherry Yeung. Thirteen of the awardees or their representatives attended the scholarship awarding ceremony, where they thanked the Fund for its support, shared their thoughts and committed themselves to making the best use of their opportunity to pursue further studies in Hong Kong or abroad. Some of the awardees gave short performances at the ceremony.
 
     Attending the ceremony were the Board Chairman of the Fund, Mr Douglas So; the Executive Manager of Charities (Projects) of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ms Winnie Yip; the Principal Assistant Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Sandy Cheung; Board members of the Fund, Mr Philip Kan, Dr Qin Rong, Mr So Hon-wah, Ms Selina Tsang and Professor Adrian Walter; and music audition panel member, Ms Rao Lan.
      
     The Fund was set up in 1980 with a $10 million donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for the promotion and development of music and dance education and training in Hong Kong. In 1994, a further capital injection of $22 million was provided by the Trust to meet an increasing demand for financial support. In 2014, the Trust approved an additional funding amount of more than $16 million for the Fund to implement a six-year pilot project. The project included the launching of a local postgraduate music and dance scholarship scheme in addition to the established non-local studies music and dance scholarship scheme, as well as the setting up of an awardees association for scholarship recipients of the Fund. To date the Fund has awarded 341 scholarships amounting to about $71 million.