The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, met a number of senior officials from the Mainland and overseas at Government House separately yesterday and today (June 27 and 28), who are visiting Hong Kong for the third Belt and Road Summit jointly organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. They included the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, Dr Somkid Jatusripitak; the Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), Mr Xiao Yaqing; the Vice Minister of Commerce, Ms Gao Yan; and the National Security Advisor, Union Minister for the Ministry of the office of the Union Government and Chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, U Thaung Tun. Mrs Lam thanked them for the staunch support for the Summit and exchanged views with them on future co-operation in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.
      
     Mrs Lam hosted a dinner for Dr Somkid at Government House yesterday evening. She said she has visited Thailand twice and met with Dr Somkid for the third time since taking office, signifying the growing relationship between Hong Kong and Thailand. She particularly thanked the Thai government for responding positively to her proposal in the Policy Address delivered last year to establish in Bangkok the third Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (ETO) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She was grateful for the Thai government’s co-operation, enabling good progress of the work. Both parties agreed at the meeting to work towards the common goal of putting the ETO into operation at the beginning of next year.
      
     Mrs Lam met with Mr Xiao before attending the Belt and Road Summit this morning. She thanked Mr Xiao for his unlimited support for Hong Kong, including organising the chief executives and senior management from over 170 state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to participate in the seminar on "Strategies and Opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative – Leveraging Hong Kong's Advantages, Meeting the Country's Needs" organised by the HKSAR Government and the Belt and Road General Chamber of Commerce at the Great Hall of the People in February this year, and leading a delegation to take part in the Belt and Road Summit this time. Mrs Lam expressed the hope that with the support of the SASAC, more SoEs will make use of Hong Kong as a platform to explore together business opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.
      
     In the afternoon, Mrs Lam met U Thaung Tun at the Chief Executive’s Office. She said the visit to Myanmar last September, the first visit by a Chief Executive since the establishment of the HKSAR twenty years ago, was very fruitful. Noting that the ASEAN, including Myanmar, lies in the Belt and Road and has great development potential, she said that many Hong Kong companies should be interested in expanding investment in Myanmar. She said the HKSAR Government which strives to consolidate the results of the last visit will enhance co-operation with Myanmar in various areas including trade, investment, tourism, culture and education. She said that Hong Kong, as an international city, is very willing to share its experience with Myanmar in various aspects, including clean governance, city management, aviation safety and railway operations, to foster the people-to-people bonds between the two places as a contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative.
      
     In the evening, Mrs Lam hosted a dinner at Government House for Mr Xiao, Ms Gao and other guests from the Mainland attending the Belt and Road Summit. Thanking Mr Xiao and Ms Gao for sharing their insights to enrich the Summit, she said she hopes they will continue to support Hong Kong’s full participation in the Belt and Road Initiative to inject new impetus to the economy of Hong Kong, the country and the world.

        

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office (IFFO) took part in the third Belt and Road Summit today (June 28) by hosting a panel discussion on "Risk Mitigation in Infrastructure Financing". The panel discussion attracted over 1 000 Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas participants.

     Given the vast infrastructure financing needs, attracting private sector capital is crucial. However, participation of private sector capital in infrastructure financing in these economies have been limited due to concerns over different types of risks, such as political and legal risks at country level as well as construction, operation and financial risks at project level. Therefore, properly mitigating these risks is most critical to improving the bankability of infrastructure projects. The panel looked into these risk factors hindering private sector capital's participation and discussed the corresponding mitigation solutions.

     The Panel Discussion was moderated by Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Director of the Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office Mr Eddie Yue and attended by the following guests (in alphabetical order of organisation name) as speakers: the PRC Leader and Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, AECOM, Mr Ian Chung; the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of CLP Holdings Limited, Mr Geert Peeters; the Chief Representative, Hong Kong Representative Office, the Export-Import Bank of China, Ms Wen Hong; the Chief Operating Officer of Global Infrastructure Hub, Mr Mark Moseley; Co-Head of the Infrastructure and Real Estate Group, Asia-Pacific, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Mr James Cameron; and the Head of Credit Lines, Asia Pacific, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd, Mr Tim Warren.

     IFFO also announced three new organisations joining as partners, bringing the total number of IFFO partners to 90. The inclusion of the new partners further strengthened IFFO's mission in facilitating infrastructure investments and financing through working with a cluster of key stakeholders. The new partners are (in alphabetical order):

1. China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited
2. Global Infrastructure Facility
3. State Development & Investment Corp., Ltd.

About IFFO

     As part of the HKMA, IFFO's mission is to facilitate infrastructure investments and their financing by working with a cluster of key stakeholders. The functions of IFFO are:

• providing a platform for information exchange and experience sharing;
• building capacity and knowledge on infrastructure investments and financing;
• promoting market and product development; and
• facilitating infrastructure investment and financing flows.

     By establishing IFFO, the HKMA can play a valuable role as a catalyst in the facilitation of infrastructure investments and their financings with its mandate to promote Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

     For more information about IFFO, please visit www.iffo.org.hk.

  

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chaired the first meeting of the Commission on Children (Commission) today (June 28).
 
     At the meeting, members were briefed on the structure and operation mode of the Commission, and they also considered the future work priorities. Members had an initial discussion on the possible topics which the Commission might consider in future, and offered recommendations in relation to the Government's work in promoting children's growth and development in Hong Kong. The Chairman, Mr Cheung, agreed that members' views would enable the Commission to have more in-depth and thorough considerations when formulating its work plan.
 
     "The Commission will be an ongoing, action-oriented, responsive and high-level body that will drive the work for the benefits of children and perform the co-ordinating role to enhance cross-bureau and cross-department collaboration. The Commission will also strive to listen to children's views and address children’s issues to promote children's growth and development in Hong Kong," Mr Cheung stressed.
 
     "Non-official members of the Commission are highly representative, including experts and stakeholders involved in matters concerning children's growth and development. At the meeting, they provided valuable opinions to the Commission on various aspects by drawing heavily on their professional knowledge and experience, which enabled the Commission to understand better the views and needs of children."  
 
     As discussed and agreed at the meeting, the Commission will include the following issues in its initial work plan: children with special education needs, ethnic minority children, children's health, children at risk, a mechanism for dealing with absentee students, and other systematic issues such as exploring the possibility of developing a central databank on children.
 
     At the meeting, members also discussed the regularisation and possible enhancement of the Pilot Scheme on On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services. Members noted the progress of the Pilot Scheme and the preliminary observations of the evaluative study on the Pilot Scheme, and agreed that the pre-school rehabilitation services could be further enhanced through possible measures, such as provision of transitional support for identified children from kindergartens to primary schools and consideration of interface with existing pre-school rehabilitation services. 
 
     In addition, members were updated on the progress of the Consultancy Study on the Long-term Development of Child Care Services and provided views on the direction of the Study's recommendations, including the philosophy and positioning of child care services, planning parameters for child care centre places, manning ratios for qualified child care workers serving in child care centres, enhancement of the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project and re-engineering of the Mutual Help Child Care Centres, as well as the Government's subsidy for child care centre service.
 
     The meeting also noted the work to be undertaken by the two Working Groups set up under the Commission. In the light of the policy directions endorsed by the Commission, the Working Group on Research will initiate research studies on children-related issues and help review children-related policies and services as appropriate. As for the Working Group on Public Engagement, Education and Publicity, it will promote the importance of children's rights and interests, manage funding schemes for organising publicity or community projects, and keep in touch with children through different channels and means to enable the Government and the Commission to listen to their voices, understand their views and take into account their suggestions. The two Working Groups will convene their first meetings soon.

  

     The Department of Health (DH) today (June 28) announced the analysis results on the mould and yeast content of Enzyplex tablet (Hong Kong Registration Number: HK-06544).
 
​     During the DH's investigation into a case of suspected mould contamination of the above product, samples of the product were collected from various sources for analysis on June 21 to ascertain whether the product exceeds the pharmacopoeial standards on mould and yeast content.

​     According to the analysis results available today, the mould and yeast content of all samples comply with both the pharmacopoeial requirements and the in-house specifications set by the Indonesian manufacturer of the product. 

​     However, the DH has announced earlier results of another test which revealed that the bacterial contents of the samples exceeded the in-house specifications even though they passed the pharmacopoeial standards. The local supplier of the product, Unam Corporation Ltd, has recalled all batches of Enzyplex tablet from the market on June 26. The DH has also instructed Unam to ask the manufacturer to conduct an investigation and submit an investigation report as soon as possible.
 
​     Unam has set up a hotline (3665 2000) to answer related enquires. So far, the DH has not received any adverse drug reaction reports in connection with the product.
 
​     People who have purchased the product should stop taking it. They should also seek advice from healthcare professionals if in doubt or feeling unwell after consumption.

     The Department of Health (DH) today (June 28) announced the analysis results on the mould and yeast content of Enzyplex tablet (Hong Kong Registration Number: HK-06544).
 
​     During the DH's investigation into a case of suspected mould contamination of the above product, samples of the product were collected from various sources for analysis on June 21 to ascertain whether the product exceeds the pharmacopoeial standards on mould and yeast content.

​     According to the analysis results available today, the mould and yeast content of all samples comply with both the pharmacopoeial requirements and the in-house specifications set by the Indonesian manufacturer of the product. 

​     However, the DH has announced earlier results of another test which revealed that the bacterial contents of the samples exceeded the in-house specifications even though they passed the pharmacopoeial standards. The local supplier of the product, Unam Corporation Ltd, has recalled all batches of Enzyplex tablet from the market on June 26. The DH has also instructed Unam to ask the manufacturer to conduct an investigation and submit an investigation report as soon as possible.
 
​     Unam has set up a hotline (3665 2000) to answer related enquires. So far, the DH has not received any adverse drug reaction reports in connection with the product.
 
​     People who have purchased the product should stop taking it. They should also seek advice from healthcare professionals if in doubt or feeling unwell after consumption.