5 -
"So, in the end, we must in Hong Kong always come back to economics. And there we derive considerable strength from our geographical position. We are well placed as a centre of communications and trade in the Pacific basin,
which looks set to be the new growth area in the world over the next decade
and more.
"In common with other parts of the region, we in Hong Kong have no
intention of standing still and we are anxious to expand and upgrade our
industrial structure. In particular, we feel that we are well placed to
break into the area of higher technology industries involving greater
skills and more capital investment per worker, particularly in light and
medium engineering and other precision industries.
Already an American firm, the Outboard Marine Corporation, has
pioneered the way and is constructing and exporting its engines from its
new Hong Kong factory. The Dow Chemical Corporation is also manufacturing polystyrenes for our growing plastics industry. We want more of these
sort of industries and are now starting to construct industrial estates to
attract them.
"Of course ་ because of Hong Kong's small size and the mountainous
and steep nature of its terrain, land here is expensive to form and it can
never be as cheap as in some other locations. But we have a lot else going
for us.
of unnecessary controls over business I have already mentioned.
The freedom of our society, the low tax structure and the absence
Next there
is the intelligence, diligence, commonsense and adaptability of our labour
force, which is now being augmented by the skills imparted by our expanding
technical education programme.
/"Our local