REVIEW
9
in connexion with the establishment of an Export Credit Insurance Corporation, the appointment of a provisional Productivity Council to pave the way for a statutory Productivity Council and produc- tivity centre, and the appointment of a working committee on export promotion. A report on an export credit insurance scheme, made by Mr R. A. Freeman of the British Export Credits Guarantee Department, was tabled in the Legislative Council in May. The report envisaged a statutory autonomous corporation to operate the scheme, whose initial finance would be provided by the govern- ment. This proposal was accepted in principle and during the year recruitment to the Corporation's senior posts and drafting of the necessary legislation went ahead.
Following the recommendation of the working committee on productivity, whose report was tabled in the Legislative Council in November 1964, a 21-member provisional Productivity Council was appointed in March under the chairmanship of the Director of Commerce and Industry. The provisional Council includes representatives of employers' and workers' associations, together with experts from the academic world and the various government departments chiefly interested in productivity. It is envisaged that the provisional Council will be superseded by a statutory Council as soon as the necessary legislation has been passed. During the year the provisional Council was chiefly concerned with the drafting of legislation and with the initial steps needed to establish the productivity centre.
At about the same time a 12-member working committee on export promotion was appointed, also under the chairmanship of the Director of Commerce and Industry. It includes representatives of those organizations chiefly concerned with the Colony's overseas trade. By its terms of reference the committee was required to review the present organizational structure for trade promotion in Hong Kong, to examine the methods employed by other countries in promoting trade, and to recommend whether a new framework is desirable to provide central direction for Hong Kong's export promotion programme. The committee held meetings throughout the year and its report, which is expected to contain a blueprint for a new export promotion organization, was awaited at the end of the year. In anticipation of the committee's report, a leading