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Commerce and Industry
international standardisation bodies and acts as Hong Kong's Enquiry Point and Notification. Authority under the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
Human Resources, Vocational Education and Training
The knowledge-based economy of the 21st century requires talent and skilled manpower at all levels. A variety of post-secondary education and training programmes are available in Hong Kong. The Vocational Training Council provides a comprehensive system of vocational education and training for school leavers and adult learners. It also administers the New Technology Training Scheme which provides financial help to employers to train their staff to use new technologies. The Clothing Industry Training Authority runs two training centres for the clothing and footwear industries.
Creative Industries
Create Hong Kong and CreateSmart Initiative
The government's 'Create Hong Kong' (CreateHK) office aims to drive the development of creative industries by:
nurturing a pool of creative human capital;
facilitating start-ups and development of creative establishments;
• generating demand for innovation and creativity and expanding the local market size for creative industries;
promoting creative industries in the Mainland and overseas to help explore outside markets;
⚫ fostering a creative atmosphere within the community;
developing creative clusters in Hong Kong to generate synergy and facilitate exchanges; and
organising major events to promote Hong Kong as Asia's creative capital.
CreateHK administers the $600 million CreateSmart Initiative (CSI). In 2013, the CSI provided $95.09 million to support 61 promotional and educational projects for various creative sectors and to encourage wider use of design by small and medium enterprises.
Creative Events
CreateHK works closely with stakeholders to foster an environment conducive to the development of creative industries. In particular, it assists industry groups in organising major creative events to engage the general public and to attract enterprises, talent and academics in creative industries from around the world to visit Hong Kong.
New initiatives and annual events in 2013 included:
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