XN000022-1974-01-26 — Page 13

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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