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INDUSTRY AND TRADE
steadily more competitive for Hong Kong products resulted in a growing conviction that new measures were needed to make Hong Kong products better able to meet this competition. Proposals for a Productivity Council have been referred to above; plans for an export credit insurance corporation and an export development council were also under consideration during the year. A report on an export credit insurance scheme for Hong Kong by Mr R. A. Freeman, of the British Export Credits Guarantee Department, was tabled in the Legislative Council in May. The report envisages a statutory autonomous corporation to operate the scheme, the initial finance for which would be provided by the government. This proposal was accepted in principle and during the year re- cruitment for the senior posts in the proposed corporation went ahead and an appointment was made to the post of Commissioner. Work on the preparation of the necessary legislation also went ahead.
In the field of export development, a working committee widely representative of all relative interests was appointed in March. Its purpose was to review the existing organizational structure for trade promotion, to examine methods employed by other countries and to report, by 1st January 1966, whether or not a new organi- zation was needed and--if so-what form this should take. The committee's appointment reflected a belief not only that an expanded programme of promotion was necessary, but also that the limited resources of staff and finance which were available could be used to better effect by central programming and pooling of services. The committee's report had been presented to the government, but not yet made public, at the end of the year. It was known, however, that the report recommended the establishment of a central council to direct export promotion activities, with an exe- cutive secretariat and adequate funds to finance an expanded programme. The chief executive designate of the proposed council was appointed in November.
During the year, while the working committee's report was under preparation, activities by the promotion agencies receiving public funds continued to be co-ordinated by the Commercial Public Relations Co-ordinating Committee. The agencies repre- sented on the Committee were the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Hong Kong Industries (whose