The Government launched "E-commerce Easy" under the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund) today (July 15), with a view to assisting enterprises to develop the Mainland market through electronic commerce (e-commerce) business.
 
     Speaking at the launching ceremony of "E-commerce Easy", the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, said that amid the rapid growth of global e-commerce business, in particular the flourishing Mainland e-commerce market, the Government launched "E-commerce Easy", under which enterprises can flexibly make use of a maximum funding of $1 million to implement e-commerce projects, to further assist them in exploring the enormous potential of the Mainland domestic sales market. He encouraged the trade to make good use of the measure to proactively seize the opportunities in the Mainland e-commerce market to expand their business coverage.
 
     Mr Yau added that the Government will organise the Hong Kong Shopping Festivals on Mainland e-commerce platforms in August through the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to help small and medium enterprises promote Hong Kong brands, with a view to enhancing awareness of Hong Kong products and brands in the Mainland and tapping the Mainland domestic market.
 
     The cumulative funding ceiling of "E-commerce Easy" is $1 million. Unlike general applications of the BUD Fund, items under "E-commerce Easy" projects are not subject to individual funding caps, so that more targeted support can be provided to enterprises. Enterprises can make use of the funding for the establishment of online stores and placement of advertisements on third-party online sales platforms, development or enhancement of mobile applications and incorporation of online payment options on their websites.
 
     Funding under "E-commerce Easy" will be provided to enterprises on a matching basis. Enterprises can opt for an initial payment of up to 75 per cent of the approved government funding. All projects must be completed within 24 months.
 
     Apart from "E-commerce Easy", enterprises may continue to apply for funding through the general application track or "Easy BUD" of the BUD Fund, in order to assist their business development in the Mainland and other markets with which Hong Kong has signed free trade agreements and/or investment promotion and protection agreements. The cumulative funding ceiling per enterprise under the BUD Fund will remain at $7 million.
 
     The BUD Fund was established in 2012 and its current geographical coverage has been expanded to 39 economies. Over $5.1 billion has been approved under the BUD Fund, with more than 5 600 beneficiary enterprises.
 
     Details of BUD Fund – "E-commerce Easy" are available at www.bud.hkpc.org/en. For enquiries, please contact the BUD Fund Secretariat (Tel: 2788 6088).

  

     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 July 12 to noon today (July 15), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 351 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 152 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 to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 67 852 samples of food imported from Japan (including 43 653 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 16 194 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests.

The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
 
     The Research Grants Council (RGC) announced today (July 15) the funding results of the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme 2024/25 (Twelfth Round) and the Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) 2024/25 (Fourteenth Round).  
 
     Three AoE and seven TRS research proposals were awarded RGC funding totalling $236 million and $330 million respectively. The lists of the awarded projects are set out in Annexes I and II.
 
     The Chairman of the RGC, Professor Timothy W. Tong, said, "I am delighted to announce the successful completion of the 2024/25 exercise. Under the AoE Scheme, three outstanding projects in the areas of diabetes care, surgical robots and artificial intelligence for geriatric care were selected for funding, after rigorous peer reviews based on academic and scientific merits. I would like to congratulate the three project teams for successfully securing the funding support to develop their cutting-edge research into areas of excellence.
 
     "Under the TRS, the RGC decided to fund seven projects which are of strategic importance to Hong Kong's long-term development. These projects cover a wide range of research areas highly relevant to our daily lives, including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) control, hepatocellular carcinoma, resilience against extreme storm surges, wireless power transfer technologies, sustainable supply chain finance, multi-sensory emulation wearable devices, and social robots. I am confident that these projects will deliver enduring economic and societal impacts at the local, national and international levels.
 
     "The RGC has been committed to promoting the University Grants Committee-funded universities in carrying out academic collaborative research. By providing annual funding through the AoE Scheme and the TRS, the RGC has been supporting universities in consolidating and putting into play their advantages, as well as pooling talent and resources. This would provide a strong foothold for developing Hong Kong into an international hub for post‑secondary education, and contributing to the further enhancement of Hong Kong's research capacity and the vibrancy of our innovation ecosystem."
      
     Professor Tong expressed his gratitude to the panel experts for their valuable contributions to the assessment process, as well as local researchers for their continued support for the AoE Scheme, the TRS and the RGC's work.
      
     Details of the approved projects for the 2024/25 exercise are available on the RGC website (AoE Scheme: www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/aoe/funded_research/aoe12.html and TRS: www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/trs/funded_research/trs14.html) for reference. A call for proposals for the AoE Scheme and the TRS 2025/26 will be issued later this month.

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (July 15) the July 2024 issue of the "Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics" (HKMDS).
 
     Apart from providing up-to-date statistics, this issue also contains two feature articles entitled "Foreign Affiliates Statistics of Hong Kong" and "Trade between Hong Kong and the Mainland of China".
 
"Foreign Affiliates Statistics of Hong Kong"
 
     With globalisation of the world economy, it is popular for multinational enterprises to provide services to customers in another economy through setting up affiliated companies abroad.
 
     In view of the importance of services supplied via this mode, the C&SD has developed a statistical framework for compiling relevant statistics, known as "foreign affiliates statistics (FATS)". This feature article briefly describes the statistical system for compiling inward FATS, and presents principal inward FATS of Hong Kong for 2022. It is an update of similar articles on the same subject published in preceding years.
 
     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Trade in Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7410; email: tis@censtatd.gov.hk).
 
"Trade between Hong Kong and the Mainland of China"
 
     Hong Kong has maintained a close trading relationship with the mainland of China (the Mainland) for many years. In the past decade, the Mainland was Hong Kong's largest destination of total exports and supplier of imports, on average accounting for 55.9% and 45.9% of Hong Kong's total exports and imports respectively.
 
     This feature article analyses the performance and highlights the salient features of merchandise trade between Hong Kong and the Mainland during the period from 2014 to 2023.
 
     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Trade Analysis Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4914; email: trade@censtatd.gov.hk).
 
     Published in bilingual form, the HKMDS is a compact volume of official statistics containing about 130 tables. It collects up-to-date statistical series on various aspects of the social and economic situation of Hong Kong. Topics include population; labour; external trade; National Income and Balance of Payments; prices; business performance; energy; housing and property; government accounts, finance and insurance; and transport, communications and tourism. For selected key statistical items, over 20 charts depicting the annual trend in the past decade and quarterly or monthly trend in the recent two years are also available. Users can download the Digest at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1010002&scode=460).
 
     Enquiries about the contents of the Digest can be directed to the Statistical Information Dissemination Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4738; email: gen-enquiry@censtatd.gov.hk).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, July 15, 2024 is 106.3 (up 0.1 against last Saturday's index).

     â€‹The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, July 13, 2024 was 106.2 (down 0.2 against last Friday's index).