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     The Secretary for Justice, Ms Teresa Cheng, SC, continued her visit in Beijing today (May 11).In the morning, Ms Cheng met with Assistant Minister of Commerce, Mr Li Chenggang. They discussed ways to build a communication platform for legal and dispute resolution professionals in Hong Kong to participate in Belt and Road Initiative in a more concrete way. 

     She then met with Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Mr Ning Jizhe, on the development opportunities in the Mainland for Hong Kong legal and dispute resolution professionals under the Belt and Road Initiative and the Bay Area development plan.

     In the afternoon, Ms Cheng joined the Hong Kong legal and dispute resolution practitioners to attend two roundtable meetings and exchanged views with representatives of the arbitration and business sectors in the Mainland. The first one was held by Beijing Arbitration Commission with focus on the participation of enterprises in the Belt and Road projects and the related legal risk prevention and dispute resolution.  They then joined the second meeting organised by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission to discuss issues including pragmatic co-operation and exchanges between enterprises, legal and arbitration sectors in the Mainland and Hong Kong legal professionals, as well as ways to link Hong Kong’s legal advantages and Mainland enterprises’ needs when seizing opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.

     Ms Cheng will return to Hong Kong tomorrow (May 12) afternoon.

        

     In response to media enquiries on the average waiting time announced today (May 11) for general applicants for public housing as at end-March 2018, a spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau issued the following statement:

     As indicated by the Government time and again, since the public rental housing (PRH) supply has been falling short of the demand for PRH over the years, there has been an ongoing upward pressure on the waiting time for PRH.

     In the past few years, we have been making our best efforts in increasing PRH supply. Despite the continued increase in new PRH units, the pace of increase is not fast enough to absorb the cumulative PRH demand over the years, hence prolonging the waiting time of PRH applicants. When those applicants with longer waiting time are eventually allocated with PRH units, their longer waiting time will be reflected in the average waiting time.

      In future, we will continue our efforts in increasing PRH supply. For the next five years (from 2017-18 to 2021-22), it is estimated that about 74 700 new PRH units will be completed, representing a steady increase over the previous four five-year periods.

      We hope that different sectors of the community will support the PRH development projects. We also appeal to the general public for support of the Government’s work in identifying land for housing construction.

      Besides new PRH units, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) also relies on recovered flats to meet the demand for PRH.  On average, there is a net recovery of over 7 000 PRH units annually. The HA will endeavour to better utilise PRH resources to ensure allocation of resources to those with more pressing housing needs. To this end, the HA has been reviewing the relevant policies from time to time, such as revising the “Well-off Tenants Policies”, and combatting tenancy abuse to safeguard the rational use of PRH resources. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:      The spokesperson of Caritas Medical Centre (CMC) made the following announcement today (May 11) on a child inpatient confirmed with tuberculosis:      … read more

     With the imminent arrival of the FIFA World Cup, Hong Kong Customs stepped up enforcement to combat counterfeit products and seized about 74 000 suspected counterfeit sportswear with an estimated market value of about $3.8… read more

     The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, who is accompanying the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, on a trip to Sichuan, today (May 11) led a delegation to visit the Sichuan-Hong Kong Rehabilitation Centre (the Centre) and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Sichuan Province.
 
     The construction of the Centre was funded by the Trust Fund in Support of Reconstruction in the Sichuan Earthquake Stricken Areas of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (the Government) with a view to establishing a rehabilitation network, as well as training professionals and developing rehabilitation work in Sichuan.
 
     “The Centre is the flagship project of the Government’s post-earthquake medical and health reconstruction work in Sichuan. With the support of the Sichuan Provincial Government and assistance of medical rehabilitation professionals of Hong Kong, the Centre has been developed into the largest rehabilitation hub in the western region. It is also an important platform to support the development of regional hospitals by providing training and guidance to rehabilitation centres in 39 counties which were severely damaged by the massive earthquake,” Professor Chan said.
 
     Officially opened in 2013, the Sichuan-Hong Kong Rehabilitation Technology Complex of the Centre provides a wide range of facilities including out-patient clinics, inpatient wards, treatment rooms, a prosthetic and orthotic centre and a recompression treatment centre.
 
     Professor Chan also visited the Teaching Hospital of the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Sichuan Province), including its Preventive Treatment Centre and Electronic Service System, to gain a better understanding of the development of Chinese medicine hospital in the Mainland.
 
     “We are now actively developing the first Chinese medicine hospital in Hong Kong. The valuable experience of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Sichuan Province, for example its scope of service, mode of management, human resource training and scientific research, is of high reference value to us,” she added.
 
     Professor Chan also agreed that Sichuan and Hong Kong should further strengthen academic exchanges in Chinese medicine, development of Chinese medicine hospital and clinical experience, and jointly promote further exchanges and co-operation on research in Chinese medicine testing and standards between the two places.
 
     Members of delegation joining Professor Chan’s visit included representatives from the Hospital Authority and non-governmental organisations of the medical service sector, as well as a number of academics.