Tag Archives: China

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (November 20) at 11 am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, the Second Reading debate on the Advance Decision on Life-sustaining Treatment Bill will resume. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

     The Second Reading debate on the Waste Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2024 will also resume. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

     In addition, the Stamp Duty Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2024 will be introduced into the Council for the First Reading and the Second Reading. The Second Reading debate on the Bill will be adjourned.

     On Members’ motions, Dr Hoey Simon Lee will move a motion on expeditiously kick-starting the construction of a carbon inclusive market. The motion is set out in Appendix 1. Dr Starry Lee and Mr Yim Kong will move separate amendments to Dr Hoey Simon Lee’s motion.

     Professor William Wong will move a motion on formulating an AI Plus strategy. The motion is set out in Appendix 2. Dr Chow Man-kong, Ms Carmen Kan, Ms Yung Hoi-yan, Mr Tang Fei, Dr Tan Yueheng and Dr So Cheung-wing will move separate amendments to Professor Wong’s motion.

     Dr Chan Han-pan will move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending a subsidiary legislation. The proposed resolution is set out in Appendix 3.

     Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.

     The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Members of the public can watch or listen to the meeting via the “Webcast” system on the LegCo Website. To observe the proceedings of the meeting at the LegCo Complex, members of the public may call 3919 3399 during office hours to reserve seats. read more

     The 2024 implementation meeting of the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Plan) was held in Hong Kong today (November 18) to summarise the progress made in the implementation of the Plan in 2023 and to discuss the key tasks for the upcoming year. The 2024 implementation meeting was co-ordinated and organised by the Tourism Commission of the Culture, Sport, and Tourism Bureau, with representatives of central ministries from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council; the National Development and Reform Commission; the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region. Representatives from the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR), the culture and tourism departments of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities, the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen Municipality; the Economic Development Bureau of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, and the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences also attended.
      
     The Commissioner for Tourism, Mrs Angelina Cheung, stated during the meeting that based on the Plan’s principle of shaping tourism with cultural activities and promoting culture through tourism, the HKSAR Government, by optimising Hong Kong’s rich tourism resources such as its coastline and outlying islands, and integrating them with its cultural and artistic heritage, will fully leverage Hong Kong’s positioning as an East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchanges under the National 14th Five-Year Plan, and to develop Hong Kong into an international tourism hub and a core demonstration zone for multidestination tourism. She noted that the meeting concluded with fruitful results, and the HKSAR Government will fully support and implement the key tasks of the Plan, closely collaborating with the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, as well as other culture and tourism departments of GBA cities to deepen tourism co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong, with a view to enhancing Hong Kong’s role in national tourism development and contributing to achieving the goal of developing a world-class bay area for leisure, as set out in the Plan.
      
     The Chief of Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, Ms Ku Mei-leng, stated at the meeting that as of early November 2024, the number of visitors to Macao has surpassed 30 million, recovering to 87 per cent of the levels seen in 2019. The development trend of Macao’s tourism industry continues to be positive. The Macao SAR Government will strive to leverage the “culture plus tourism” synergistic effect by making good use of policies and cultural and tourism co-operation mechanisms and continue to strengthen co-operation with the GBA’s partner cities, complementing each other’s strengths to jointly build a cultured Bay Area, and a Bay Area for leisure .
      
     Level I Bureau Rank Official of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province Mr Zhang Yimin stated that the Department will work under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to collaborate with Hong Kong and Macao to pragmatically advance and co-create brands to further promote the prosperous development of the cultural and tourism industry in the GBA. This includes accelerating the joint development of the cultured Bay Area, fostering cultural prosperity, enriching the supply of tourism products, enhancing cultural and tourism brands, and increasing the cultural and tourism influence of the GBA in order to jointly make the GBA a world-class tourism destination.
      
     The Deputy Director of the Department of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mr Kong Lun, stated at the meeting that the Plan has been implemented in an orderly manner and achieved with significant results over the past year. For the way forward, he mentioned three suggestions, including (i) to further co-ordinate and integrate resources in creating popular multidestination tourism products for inbound travelers and promote synergistic development of inbound tourism marketing to attract more international visitors to the GBA; (ii) to continue making efforts in jointly creating high-quality cultural products, improving public cultural services as well as  the cultural and creative industries and carrying out high-standard cultural exchange activities in order to promote Chinese culture to the world; and (iii) to seize new trends and demands in the cultural and tourism market in cultivating new business trends to enhance service quality towards cultural and tourism consumption, establishing a “golden brand” for the GBA’s culture and tourism through driving high-quality development with innovative thinking.
      
     The Plan was jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Leading Group) and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province on December 24, 2020, to further implement the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Under the framework of the Leading Group, the related departments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will continue to enhance co-ordination and communication to establish an implementation and daily communication mechanism, with a view to jointly taking forward the implementation of the Plan. The 2025 meeting for the Plan will be hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on the Mainland.  

    

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, November 18, 2024 is 106.4 (up 0.1 against last Saturday’s index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, November 16, 2024 is 106.3 (down 0.1 against last Friday’s index). read more

     In response to the Japanese Government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor and step up the testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
 
     From noon on November 15 to noon today (November 18), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 272 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the “aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt” category, in the past three days (including last Saturday and Sunday). No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS’s thematic website titled “Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan” (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).
 
     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 150 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD’s website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO’s website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24, 2023, to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 100 807 samples of food imported from Japan (including 64 639 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 22 512 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests. read more

     â€‹Following are the opening remarks by the Chairman of the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board and Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Mr Lam Sai-hung, at the Opening Ceremony of Hong Kong Maritime Week 2024 cum World Maritime Merchants Forum 2024 today (November 18):
 
The Honourable Acting Chief Executive K K Chan(Acting Chief Executive, Mr Chan Kwok-ki), The Honourable Vice-Chairman C Y Leung (Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Mr C Y Leung), Director Zheng Yanxiong (Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)), Commissioner Cui Jianchun (Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR), Vice Minister Fu Xuyin (Vice Minister of Transport), Mr Miao Jianmin (Chairman of the China Merchants Group), distinguished guests, friends of the global maritime community, ladies and gentlemen,
 
     Good afternoon. It is indeed my great pleasure to join you all in the opening of the eighth edition of Hong Kong Maritime Week (HKMW) and the fourth World Maritime Merchants Forum. Once again, we have two great events under one roof this year.
      
     With the staunch support from 14 support organisations, the week-long HKMW will feature a comprehensive line-up of activities, with an aim to ignite discussions by industry practitioners on important maritime topics and raise the general community’s interest towards the maritime industry.
      
     The global maritime sector is undergoing profound transformation in recent years, driven by digitalisation, decarbonisation, geopolitical and trade dynamics. The global maritime community are responding flexibly and effectively to the forces of change.
      
     We, in Hong Kong, are getting ourselves prepared for both the challenges and opportunities ahead. Last December, the Hong Kong Government launched an Action Plan on Maritime and Port Development Strategy, outlining 10 strategies and 32 action measures from four directions to consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international maritime centre. This year, the Policy Address has unveiled a myriad of other important and significant measures to develop Hong Kong as an international maritime centre.
      
     Enhancing Hong Kong’s role as a maritime “super connector” has always been on our priority, and this is one of the purposes of Hong Kong Maritime Week. The programme of HKMW this year has seen even stronger connection with the international community. For the first time, the International Chamber of Shipping, supported by my Bureau, has staged a two-day Global Maritime Trade Summit. Ministers from around the world gathered in Hong Kong to conduct ministerial dialogues on issues affecting the international maritime community. This year, the HKMW will also debut a new theme on “Belt and Road Development”, featuring activities that shine a spotlight on the developments under our country’s Belt and Road Initiative.    
      
     I believe there are much more fun and opportunities you may find throughout the week. Our two flagship events, the World Maritime Merchants Forum and the Asian Logistics, Maritime and Aviation Conference, will run alongside for industry leaders to exchange market intelligence and identify business opportunities. The Captain’s Table, being the industry’s leading maritime start-up contest, will bring together aspiring innovators seeking to bring their innovation to market.    
      
     Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you will enjoy our hospitality and find the events useful for connecting with your fellows in the industry. I wish you all a fruitful and rewarding week. Thank you.