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FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DIVERSIFICATION
S We all attach great importance to the work of
the Advisory Committee on Diversification chaired by
the Financial Secretary. Hong Kong has grown and
prospered in a constantly changing world and has
repeatedly proved its ability to adapt to changing
circumstances. Indeed it is adapting and changing
all the time, both within traditional industries
and into new ones. So there is nothing new about the
concept or practice of diversification in Hong Kong.
Nor does the study imply any lack of confidence about
the survival of our traditional industries, since the se
have so often shown their capacity to maintain their
markets by diversification of their products or
industrial techniques. Never the less we must be sure
that change beneficial to the economy is not inadvertently
impeded by acts of commission or omission by the
Government or for that matter by the business community.
This involves study in great depth and detail.
56 The Committee has completed a study of the growth
and development of Hong Kong's economy over the past 15
years, and has tentatively identified the likely future
determinants of growth of the various industries that
make up our economy, including socio-political and geo-
political factors and the restrictive impact of the new
generation of textile restraint agreements.
It has also