XN000022-1979-10-03 — Page 2

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1979

QUALITY TOYS MAKE HK WORLD'S LEADING EXPORTER

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HONG KONG MANUFACTURERS HAVE BECOME THE WORLD'S LEADING EXPORTERS OF TOYS BECAUSE OF THEIR AWARENESS THAT QUALITY COUNTS, NOT CHEAPNESS, THE ACTING GOVERNOR, SIR JACK CATER SAID TODAY (WEDNESDAY),

SIR JACK WAS SPEAKING AT THE OPENING OF THE 1979 TOY AND GIFT FAIR THE FIFTH IN A SERIES ORGANISED BY THE TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.

+THE PROCESS OF TRADING-UP HAS BECOME EVEN MORE EVIDENT IN RECENT YEARS AS HONG KONG HAS INCREASED ITS SHARE OF THE WORLD MARKET FOR SOPHISTICATED TOYS, AND THIS IS A PROCESS THAT WILL CONTINUE, HE SAID.

SIR JACK POINTED OUT THAT HONG KONG TOYS WERE REGULARLY EXHIBITED AT SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TRADE FAIRS IN THE WORLD SUCH AS NUREMBURG, NEW YORK AND LONDON, WHERE THEY WERE EXPOSED TO THE MOST DEMANDING OF INTERNATIONAL BUYERS.

+ IN THIS TOY FAIR YOU WILL SEE THE PRODUCTS OF AN INDUSTRY THAT IS RELATIVELY YOUNG, TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED, SOPHISTICATED IN MARKETING MATTERS, AND INTERNATIONALLY RESPECTED - IN EVERY WAY AN EXCELLÉNT AMBASSADOR FOR HONG KONG AND FOR OUR ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES, HE SAID.

SIR JACK SAID THE GOVERNMENT FIRMLY BELIEVED THAT, IN PRINCIPLE, INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DECISIONS WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE CORRECT IF THEY WERE TAKEN BY BUSINESSMEN RATHER THAN BY CIVIL SERVANTS.

+SO THE GOVERNMENT HAS LIMITED ITS ROLE IN THE ECONOMY LARGELY TO ENSURING THAT IMPEDIMENTS TO ECONOMIC LIFE ARE REMOVED WHERE POSSIBLE,+ HE SAID.

+ IT REQUIRES THAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD IDENTIFY THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH HONG KONG ENTERPRISE CAN AND WILL FLOURISH, AND MAKE SURE THAT THOSE CONDITIONS PREVAIL,+ HE CONTINUED.

+THE TOY INDUSTRY TYPIFIES HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT UNDER THESE CONDITIONS. IT HAS BEEN FLEXIBLE, INNOVATIVE AND DETERMINED. IT HAS NOT SAT AROUND WAITING FOR OFFICIAL ACTION, BUT WHEN OFFICIAL SUPPORT HAS BEEN AVAILABLE THE TOY INDUSTRY HAS TAKEN CONSTRUCTIVE ADVANTAGE OF IT, HE SAID.

POINTING OUT THAT THE TOY BUSINESS WAS HIGHLY COMPETITIVE AND SUBJECT TO DRAMATIC CHANGES IN TRENDS AND DEMAND, SIR JACK SAID HONG KONG TOY MANUFACTURERS HAD PROVED THEMSELVES WELL ABLE TO COPE WITH CHANGE AND IN SEVERAL LINES THEY WERE THE TREND SETTERS.

/PARTLY BY.....