12
Saturday, January 26, 1974
INDUSTRIALISTS MUST ADAPT TO CHANGING CONDITIONS
IN WORLD MARKETS
The Secretary for Economic Services, Mr. Derek Jones, today
emphasised that it was up to industrialists to react to changing
conditions in world markets and to strive to maintain the profitability
of their enterprises.
Speaking at a luncheon meeting of the Cotton Spinners!
Association, he said that the shortage of raw materials, currency
uncertainties and market fluctuations had brought about more daunting
challenges, but he was certain that these would be met by the ability
and flexibility of Hong Kong's industry to respond to changing
circumstances.
The government, he said, would continue to assist industry and
he noted that positive steps were taken recently to further promote
modifying the industrial land policy to sell sitos on
industry by
a rostrictive user basis for new industries introducing high
technological skills.
"It is the job of the government, first to maintain a proper
economic climate within which our industry can function to the best
advantage and, secondly, to do what it can to remove or alleviate the
impediments to our trade which are imposed by governments overseas,"
he said.
Mr. Jones gave a re-assurance that the Hong Kong government
would continue pressing for the lifting of the exclusion of Hong Kong
textiles and footwear from the European Economic Community's
generalised preference scheme.
/Referring