Author Archives: hksar gov

     The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), today (August 1) expressed his heartfelt gratitude to President Xi Jinping for his reply letter to a group of Hong Kong entrepreneurs of Ningbo descent. President Xi’s letter conveyed his recognition and warm encouragement to the entrepreneurs for inheriting their ancestors’ fine tradition of patriotism, as well as for their contributions to the development of their home town and the country.

     Mr Lee noted that descendants of the pioneering generation of Ningbo-born Hong Kong entrepreneurs, including Ms Anna Pao Sohmen and Mr Chao Kee-young, recently wrote to President Xi to report on their efforts in carrying on the fine traditions of their ancestors and supporting national development, expressing their ongoing commitment to contribute to the modernisation of the country. Mr Lee added that the reply letter from President Xi was deeply encouraging and inspiring, particularly for Hong Kong entrepreneurs of Ningbo descent and those from other parts of the country, reinforcing their confidence and determination to build on past successes and break new ground while upholding fundamental principles, so that they could continue leveraging their strengths to serve and contribute to their home town and the country.

     Mr Lee stressed that the HKSAR Government will continue to unite Hong Kong’s patriotic forces that love the city and their home towns in the local business sector and the wider community, and encourage them to fully utilise their expertise in their respective fields to better integrate into the overall development of the country. They are encouraged to help make Hong Kong’s contributions in the nation’s journey towards becoming a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation. read more

     The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, today (August 1) led the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) delegation to continue their visit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
      
     In the morning, Mr Lee had breakfast with staff of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office at a local restaurant to better understand their work and experience the unique Vietnamese food culture.
      
     Afterwards, Mr Lee met with Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Mr Tran Luu Quang. They jointly witnessed an exchange of eight memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between government departments, enterprises and organisations of the two places in areas including economic and trade, aviation services development, and financial and capital market development.
      
     Following the exchange of MOUs, Mr Lee led the HKSAR delegation to join a meeting session with Mr Tran Luu Quang. Mr Lee remarked that Vietnam has experienced rapid economic developments in recent years, while Hong Kong serves as an international financial, trade, shipping, logistics, and professional services centre. He encouraged more Vietnamese enterprises to leverage Hong Kong’s advantages to tap into the Mainland and international markets.
      
     In the afternoon, Mr Lee met with the President of Vietnam, Mr To Lam, to exchange views on issues of mutual interest. Mr Lee highlighted that Hong Kong and Vietnam have always maintained close bilateral trade relations, and that Vietnam is the seventh-largest trading partner of Hong Kong and the second-largest one among the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He added that Hong Kong treasures the relations with Vietnam and he looks forward to paving the way for new co-operation opportunities between the governments and business sectors of the two places through this visit. He also expressed his hope for Vietnam’s continuous support for Hong Kong’s early accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to further contribute to regional economic developments.
      
     Mr Lee then met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mr Xiong Bo. Mr Lee thanked Ambassador Xiong and the Embassy for their thoughtful arrangements for the visit, as well as their continuous support for the HKSAR Government’s liaison and promotional work in Vietnam. The HKSAR Government will continue to promote economic, trade and cultural exchanges between the two places, he added.
      
     Mr Lee will depart for Ho Chi Minh City this evening and will continue his visit tomorrow (August 2).

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     The 2024 provisional registers of electors/voters and omissions lists for geographical constituencies (GCs), functional constituencies (FCs) and Election Committee subsectors (ECSSs) were released today (August 1). The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) appeals to members of the public to check their registration status and particulars through “iAM Smart”, the voter registration website (vr.gov.hk) or inquire via the REO hotline at 2891 1001 during office hours. For enquiries, members of the public may contact the REO on or before August 25.
 
Compilation of provisional registers of electors/voters and omissions lists
 
     The 2024 provisional register for GCs contains about 4 207 500 registered electors. In the 2024 voter registration cycle, there are about 18 900 new registration applications and about 138 000 applications for updating particulars from registered electors of GCs. Moreover, the records of about 29 900 and about 112 500 electors have been removed from the provisional register by entering on the omissions list due to death and as a result of other inquiry processes respectively.
 
 
    As for FCs, the provisional register contains about 197 700 registered electors. The figure has factored in newly registered electors, electors with a change in the FC registered, and electors entered on the omissions list due to death or as a result of other inquiry processes, etc.
 
     As for ECSSs, the provisional register contains about 8 600 registered voters. The figure has factored in newly registered voters, voters with a change in the ECSS registered, and voters entered on the omissions list due to death or as a result of other inquiry processes, etc.
 
     “The REO has earlier mailed to the relevant electors/voters to confirm their new registration or change of registration particulars. Those who have provided mobile phone numbers or email addresses would have received the messages concerned. All SMS messages issued by the REO will start with the prefix ‘#’ in the sender ID for identification,” a spokesman for the REO said.
 
Prompt reply to reminding letters if requested
 
     Electors/voters entered on the omissions lists will receive a reminding letter from the REO to confirm their eligibility. The envelopes of the reminding letters are beige in colour and with a message, “Immediate action required. Your voting right is at stake” printed in red. Recipients must reply on or before August 25 by scanning the QR code or log on to the website (www.reo-form.gov.hk), or provide supplementary information by email, post or fax so that they may, with the Revising Officer’s approval, keep their registration status and be included in the final registers of electors/voters. In addition, the REO will contact individual electors/voters on the omissions lists by phone to remind them to confirm their eligibility as soon as possible. For any enquiries, members of the public may call REO’s hotline (2891 1001) during office hours.
 
Lodging statutory claims and objections
 
    Any electors/voters entered on the omissions lists; any individuals/bodies who have applied for registration but no such record is found in the relevant provisional register(s); or any registered elector/voter with incorrect particulars recorded in the relevant provisional register(s), may lodge a claim in person with the REO. Also, anyone who considers an individual/body in the provisional register(s) not eligible to be so registered may lodge an objection in person with the REO. The statutory period for lodging claims or objections ends on August 25. The Revising Officer will consider the evidence provided by the applicant and make a ruling according to law.
 
     The specified forms for lodging claims and objections can be downloaded from the REO website (www.reo.gov.hk/en/voter/appeal.html) or obtained from the two offices of the REO (8/F, Treasury Building, 3 Tonkin Street West, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, and 29/F, Standard Chartered Tower, Millennium City 1, 388 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon) or the Home Affairs Enquiry Centres of respective District Offices.
 
     Information on the hearings of the claims and objections will be uploaded to the REO website (www.reo.gov.hk/en/voter/appeal.html) before the day of the hearing for reference by members of the public.
 
Arrangements for inspection of provisional registers of electors/voters and omissions lists
 
     All individuals or body electors may check their registration status and particulars, including whether they have been entered into the omissions lists, through “iAM Smart” or the voter registration website (vr.gov.hk).
 
    Notices on the inspection of the provisional registers of electors/voters and omissions lists were gazetted for promulgation today. According to law, a copy of provisional registers and omissions lists containing entries relating to individuals may only be shown in accordance with the statutory requirements, and made available for inspection by specified persons only. A copy of provisional registers and omissions lists containing entries of corporate electors/voters (i.e. without entries relating to individuals) may be inspected by any member of the public. For details and arrangements regarding the inspection, please refer to www.reo.gov.hk/en/voter/checkvrstatus/registers.html. 
 
Other information
 
     Related statistical information about provisional registers of electors/voters has been uploaded to the voter registration website (vr.gov.hk).
 
     The REO will publish the final registers of electors/voters on or before September 25. Next year will be an election year. The REO will contact persons who had registered before but lost their registration status for some reason by email and phone to invite them to re-register as electors. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Police Force (the Police) and the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB), announces today (August 1) that 32 banks and 10 stored value facility (SVF) operators (see Annex for the list of participating institutions) will, starting from August 4, 2024, extend the coverage of the Suspicious Account Alert for internet banking and physical branches transactions, for providing enhanced protection to customers against rising fraud risks. 

     The HKMA has been working closely with the Police and the banking industry to introduce various anti-fraud initiatives. Among them, the Suspicious Account Alert, launched in November 2023, warns customers of “High Risk” of fraud based on information of the Police’s Scameter, a scam and pitfall search engine, initially covering fund transfers using Faster Payment System (FPS) proxy IDs (including mobile phone number, email address, FPS Identifier (FPS ID)). As of end-June, 2024, over 655 000 alerts were issued, with an average of 3 000 alerts per day. 

     To further enhance the protection against fraud risks, the alert mechanism will extend to cover retail customers’ fund transfers at bank counters, and online fund transfers within the same bank or inter-bank/SVFs, using account numbers of the payees. Customers will receive an alert message indicating high fraud risk if the payee’s account number, mobile phone number, email address or FPS Identifier are labelled as “High Risk” in Scameter, regardless of whether the transfer is conducted at branch or through online channels. Participating SVFs will implement similar alert mechanism and provide relevant details to their respective customers.

     Two other new initiatives are also introduced to further enhance protection for bank customers. First, “Scameter+” mobile application will now provide more timely alerts of fraudulent bank websites or phone numbers. In addition, to provide a more secure authentication method for customers using mobile banking apps in the light of evolving malware threats, the authentication of online credit card transactions has to be conducted via banks’ mobile banking applications instead of SMS one-time passwords.
 
     The HKMA reminds the public to carefully verify the payment details and the payee’s identity before proceeding with a transaction. If in doubt, the public should refrain from making payments to avoid potential loss. In view of the rising threat of digital frauds such as malware scams, the public is advised to:
 

1. fact-check by referring to the HKMA’s registers of authorised institutions and SVF licensees, the Police’s anti-fraud resources including “Scameter+” mobile application and Anti-Scam Helpline 18222;
2. download or upgrade mobile applications only from official app stores or websites;
3. beware of fraudulent links; and
4. always protect personal information.

 
     The HKMA will continue to work closely with the Police and the industry to raise public awareness and combat digital frauds. read more

     The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (August 1) that open auctions for a total of 276 stalls in 37 public markets will be held in August.      The retail commodit… read more