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17
Wednesday, March 28, 1973
MINIMUM GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN INDUSTRY
Proposal For Industrial Development Council Rejected
The policy of keeping Government interference with commercial and
industrial decisions to the minimum has been an important factor of Hong Kong's
success in the past 20 years, the Director of Commerce and Industry, the Hon.
D.H. Jordan, said today.
Speaking at the resumed debate in the Legislative Council this
afternoon, he said however that "changing circumstances will in the future
make it necessary for the Government to take a bigger hand in 'planning,
regulation and assistance' for industrial development."
He expressed doubts over a suggestion to set up a high-powered
Industrial Development Council.
He said there were no "clear signs that the community in general or
industry in particular wants the Government to abandon our traditional role
and take on a more active one.
Tr
The existing Trade and Industry Advisory Board, Hr. Jordan said,
had "considerable potential as a more effective link between Government and
the industrial and commercial sectors."
Referring to the decline in the rate of growth in the value of Hong
Kong's exports, Mr. Jordan said too much emphasis should not be put on the
"exceptional" growth in the years 1968 and 1969.
He said that Hong Kong could not expect to sustain a compound rate of
growth of 25 per cent.
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