13.
Inquiry into sinking of barge ordered
The acting Director of Marine, Mr S Y Tsui, has ordered a Local Marine Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the sinking of a barge near Fat Tong Chau early this (Friday) morning.
In accordance with the powers granted under section 58 of the Shipping and Port Control Ordinance, Mr Tsui appointed Senior Surveyor of Ships, Mr P C So, and Surveyor of Ships (Nautical), Mr S T Li, to be the Inquiry Officers.
A Hong Kong licensed barge "SHB 1006" sank sometime between midnight and 3.30 am today in the area between Tai Long Bay and Tit Cham Chau.
End
STI attended APEC Small and Medium Enterprises meeting
The Secretary for Trade and Industry, Miss Denise Yue, had participated in the third Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) held at Cebu, the Philippines, yesterday and today (Thursday and Friday).
The meeting, chaired by the Secretary of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, Mr Cesar B Bautista, was attended by all the 18 APEC economies, namely Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and the United States.
At the meeting, member economies discussed existing and new initiatives in the SME Action Program which incorporated a set of principles to guide APEC SME work and projects in the five priority areas human resources development, information access, technology and technology sharing, financing and market access.
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Through the Action Program, policy makers have increased their understanding of issues affecting SMEs in the APEC region. This enables them to develop tools to help SMEs grow and adapt to an environment of increasing globalisation.