INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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visitors to the fair passed through the Hong Kong stand. Commer- cial exhibitors recorded nearly 11,000 trade enquiries and some of them received substantial orders.
The Display Centre of Hong Kong Products in the City Hall was visited by 9,328 people during the year and enquiries recorded by the staff included 11,668 from overseas visitors and from resident businessmen. 312 appointments with suppliers were made for overseas visitors. These figures are considerably higher than corresponding figures for 1963 and reflects the increasing use of the Centre as its existence has become more widely known.
Promotional publicity is also provided by the annual Commerce, Industry and Finance Directory and the monthly Trade Bulletin which are published by the Commerce and Industry Department. The Directory is a comprehensive guide to Hong Kong business in its economic and administrative setting. The Trade Bulletin described Hong Kong's products in magazine form and each month features different aspects of the commercial and industrial scene. Both are distributed free overseas.
In October an expert from the British Board of Trade arrived to advise on the organization of an export credit insurance scheme and was attached to the Department of Commerce and Industry for two months.
The activities of the Public Relations Joint Committee were centred on Europe and the United States. The Committee ap- pointed representatives to be based initially in Brussels and New York with the tasks of fostering of Hong Kong's image as a devel- oping industrial centre and encouraging trade with an investment in the Colony. Mr H. D. M. Barton, formerly Chairman of Jardine Matheson and Company Limited, was appointed as the Committee's first representative in Europe and Mr K. T. Woo, former Hong Kong newspaper editor, as their first representative in New York. The Committee established a small secretariat as a necessary corollary to this important step. During the year Mr Barton paid visits to many centres in the Common Market countries and made an extended visit to Scandinavia in October. Mr Woo visited several American cities, including San Francisco at the time of the trade fair. In support of its representatives the Committee retains public relations consultants in Europe and legal consultants