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INDUSTRY AND TRADE
Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, these meetings being held in Bangkok.
Trade Promotion. The Director of Commerce and Industry is advised on matters concerning trade by the Trade and Industry Advisory Board, the members of which represent various facets of the Colony's industrial and commercial interests. With the advice of this Board, Government continued to pursue an active policy of trade promotion throughout 1960.
In January 1960 a Government-sponsored mission led by the Honourable R. C. Lee, OBE, a member of Legislative Council and a prominent businessman, spent a busy and rewarding five weeks in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and the then Belgian Congo. The mission corrected some misunderstandings about Hong Kong and her industries in dis- cussions with trade organizations and officials in these countries. While examining the possibility of expanding trade with each territory visited, the mission learned of the obstacles which had hindered development, and discussed proposals for overcoming them. The findings and recommendations of this mission were published in a comprehensive report, and there are indications from the trade that a discernible improvement has already resulted in commercial transactions since some of its suggestions have been carried out.
In April Mr H. Owen Hughes, OBE, led a delegation of three local businessmen, a representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and two Government officials, to the Ninth Washington State International Trade Fair in Seattle. Hong Kong mounted an attractive exhibit covering about 2,500 square feet at this fair. The stand was built from a locally drawn plan and it displayed a wide selection of the Colony's higher quality prod- ucts. The combination of oriental and contemporary western designs among the articles exhibited attracted the interest of the American public, and the display was warmly praised by press, radio and television. So effective was this exhibit and its layout that it was purchased outright by the authorities of the Chicago International Fair for free display there at a later date in the year. Thus a fairly comprehensive selection of Hong Kong products was seen for the first time by buyers and the public in the American Middle West.