The 18th Joint Meeting of the Senior Health Officials of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao (Joint Meeting) was held today (December 18) in Hong Kong. The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, welcomed and expressed his heartfelt thanks to Vice-minister of the National Health Commission Mr Lei Haichao and the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), Ms Ao Ieong U, for participating in the meeting held in Hong Kong with their delegations.

     The Joint Meeting has all along been a platform for senior medical and health officials, and experts from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao to exchange views, share experiences and enhance co-operation on present-day medical and public health issues. The Joint Meeting is hosted by the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao in rotation.

     Members of the three delegations today engaged in sharing and discussions covering three major issues, namely cross-boundary medical co-operation, prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases and primary healthcare in the community.  Professor Lo and Vice-minister Lei also signed a medical- and healthcare-related co-operation arrangement at the Joint Meeting.

     Professor Lo said that the meeting consolidated the seamless and solid collaboration among the three places, driving the formulation of long-term and sustainable healthcare policies under the joint effort of three health authorities for safeguarding the wellbeing of the citizens of the three places and contributing to the overall development of the nation's "Healthy China" strategy.

     Members of the Hong Kong SAR Government delegation included the Permanent Secretary for Health, Mr Thomas Chan; the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam; the Chairman of the Hospital Authority (HA), Mr Henry Fan; and the Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Tony Ko.

      

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

     Tenders of Exchange Fund Bills to be held on December 22, 2023:
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
 
     The Quality Public Housing Construction and Maintenance Awards 2023 awards presentation ceremony organised by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) and industry-related organisations was held today (December 18) to commend the exemplary performance of practitioners in construction and maintenance works.
 
     At the ceremony, the Permanent Secretary for Housing and Director of Housing, Miss Rosanna Law, said that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the HA. She expressed her gratitude to contractors and workers who have been working alongside the HA for the past half century to provide adequate housing for the grassroots in Hong Kong.
 
     "In the face of the huge demand for public housing and maintenance works of public housing estates, I expect in earnest that the industry will continue to widely adopt smart technologies to improve construction safety and efficiency, and to enhance property management," she continued.
 
     In this 16th awards presentation ceremony, about 140 awards were presented to contractors, sub-contractors, project teams, supervisors and frontline workers in recognition of their outstanding performance. This year, an Innovative Application of Smart Technology award was specially introduced to encourage the adoption of more innovative technologies by the industry. The ceremony was held at the HA Headquarters in Homantin, Kowloon.
 
     Co-organisers of the event include the Hong Kong Construction Association, the Hong Kong Federation of Electrical and Mechanical Contractors, the Hong Kong Construction Sub-Contractors Association, the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union, the Construction Site Workers General Union, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Electrical Engineering and Appliances Trade Workers Union, the Hong Kong General Union of Lift and Escalator Employees, the Labour Department, the Occupational Safety and Health Council, the Construction Industry Council and the Vocational Training Council.

  

     Among the 55 commercial stalls of the Hong Kong Flower Show 2024, 53 were let at the auction held on December 13. The remaining two designated fast food stalls (F5 and F6) will be leased at its upset price on a first-come, first-served basis from 9am to 4pm on December 28 (Thursday). If more than one person is in the queue, each person can rent only one stall at a time.
 
     The two designated fast food stalls measure 5 metres x 10m. The letting price is $22,740 and the security deposit is $4,528 for each stall. The licensee of the F5 fast food stall shall only sell vegetarian food and the F6 fast food stall shall only sell sandwiches, bakery products (such as cookies), and ready-to-eat traditional snack food (such as beans pudding, cha kwo, sesame rolls, peanuts, glutinous rice balls and almond biscuits) during the licence period.
 
     Those wishing to rent the stalls must be 18 years old or above and ordinarily resident in Hong Kong under section 2 of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) or any company incorporated in Hong Kong. Where the renter is a company, the authorised representative of the company must produce the following documents: (i) the company's Certificate of Incorporation and Business Registration Certificate; and (ii) an authorisation letter showing that the representative is authorised to act on the company's behalf in the rental and to sign the Licence Agreement on the company's behalf. Interested parties must bring cash or cheque to pay the rent and approach the Secretariat of the Hong Kong Flower Show in person at 11/F, Leisure and Cultural Services Headquarters, 1-3 Pai Tau Street, Sha Tin.
 
     Organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the 10-day Hong Kong Flower Show 2024 will be held from March 15 to 24 at Victoria Park. The 55 commercial stalls in the showground include 42 flower and gardening stalls, seven fast food stalls, two handicraft stalls, two beverage stalls, one photographic equipment stall, and one book stall.
 
     For enquiries, please call 2601 8260 or visit www.hkflowershow.hk/en/hkfs/2024/commercial.html.

     Further to the external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for October 2023 released earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (December 18) the volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade for that month.
 
     In October 2023, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 4.1% and 1.6% respectively over October 2022.
 
     Comparing the first ten months of 2023 with the same period in 2022, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 14.5% and 11.8% respectively.
 
     Comparing the three-month period ending October 2023 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 4.3% and 3.1% respectively.
 
     Changes in volume of external merchandise trade are derived from changes in external merchandise trade value with the effect of price changes discounted.
 
     Comparing October 2023 with October 2022, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 5.0% and 3.6% respectively.
 
     As regards price changes in the first ten months of 2023 over the same period in 2022, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 4.3% and 3.8% respectively.
 
     Price changes in external merchandise trade are reflected by changes in unit value indices of external merchandise trade, which are compiled based on average unit values or, for certain commodities, specific price data.
 
     The terms of trade index is derived from the ratio of price index of total exports of goods to that of imports of goods.  Compared with the same periods in 2022, the index increased by 1.3% in October 2023 and 0.5% in the first ten months of 2023.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.
 
     Comparing October 2023 with October 2022, declines were recorded for the total export volume to Taiwan (-8.6%), the USA (-1.2%) and the mainland of China (the Mainland) (-1.2%). On the other hand, the total export volume to Vietnam (8.7%) and India (18.6%) increased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to all main destinations increased:
India (6.7%), the Mainland (6.2%), Vietnam (5.3%), the USA (3.3%) and Taiwan (1.4%).
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.
 
     Comparing October 2023 with October 2022, declines were recorded for the import volume from Korea (-17.0%), Japan (-11.0%) and the Mainland (-1.8%). On the other hand, the import volume from Taiwan (4.9%) and Singapore (6.1%) increased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from all main suppliers increased: Taiwan (5.9%), Singapore (5.4%), the Mainland (4.3%), Korea (2.4%) and Japan (1.1%).
 
Further information
 
     Details of the above statistics are published in the October 2023 issue of "Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Index Numbers".  Users can browse and download the report at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1020006&scode=230).
 
     Enquiries on merchandise trade indices may be directed to the Trade Analysis Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4918).