-
Head 176
The
163.
Subventions: Miscellaneous. Subhead 444 Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council was established in 1966 by the enactment of the Trade Development Council Ordinance after the Government had considered the 1965 Report of the Working Committee on Export Promotion Organization. objectives of the Trade Development Council are to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's overseas trade, with particular reference to exports. The Ordinance provides that the Council shall receive such moneys that the Governor may approve out of funds provided by the Legislative Council and for the Trade Development Council to submit its annual estimates of income and expenditure for the approval of the Governor. In 1984-85, the subvention to the Council amounted to $161 million.
164.
In 1965, when considering what financial resources the Trade Development Council would require to carry out its functions, the Working Committee examined the practice of other exporting countries and found that funds were generally allocated to their export promotion organizations based firstly on a pragmatic assessment, industry by industry, of the amount needed to supplement promotional activities by the private sector (surveys being carried out in conjunction with trade and industrial associations) and secondly, on a decision by the Government on the importance to the territory of export promotion relative to the provision of other public sector services such as education, medical and health, which entailed consideration of the territory's economic position, and expenditure on promotion by its trading competitors. The Working Committee concluded that an accurate assessment of promotional activities by the private sector was not possible in Hong Kong because of the lack of detailed information on local industries' productive capacity and export potential and on international competition. After justifying the need for expansion of trade promotion activities, the Working Committee recommended as a working hypothesis that Hong Kong should make funds available annually to the Trade Development Council on a formula of 0.25% of the value of Hong Kong's domestic exports, which for 1964-65 amounted to $11 million.
165.
In order to meet this increased level of expenditure, the Working Committee suggested that the Government should collect an ad valorem charge on Hong Kong's import and export trade declarations at the rate of 50¢ for every $1,000. This charge would provide the difference between what was then being spent by the Government on export promotion and the $11 million derived from the recommended formula. The Working Committee's