XN000022-1982-06-11 — Page 6

FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1982

BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR TRADE FACILITATION WORK URGED

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HONG KONG'S TRADE FACILITATION COUNCIL NEEDED THE FULL SUPPORT FF THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY, THE CHIEF SECRETARY, SIR PHILIP HADDON- CAVE, SAID TODAY (FRIDAY).

SIR PHILIP SAID THE GOVERNMENT, ON ITS PART, WAS GLAD TO PROVIDE SUPPORT THROUGH AN ANNUAL SUBVENTION FOR THE COUNCIL'S EFFORTS TOWARDS ELIMINATING PAPERWORK.

THE CHIEF SECRETARY WAS SPEAKING AS GUEST OF HONOUR AT THE PREMIERE OF THE HONG KONG TRADE FACILITATION COUNCIL FILM, THE PAPERLESS FRONTIER, THIS EVENING.

SAID.

*WE IN HONG KONG NEED TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE COUNCIL, HE

TO GAIN THE SUPPORT OF BUSINESSES, THE COUNCIL HAD RECENTLY ESTABLISHED THREE NEW CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP, SIR PHILIP POINTED OUT.

THE NEW MEMBERSHIP, HE HOPED, WOULD BRING FINANCIAL BENEFIT, AS WELL AS EXPERTISE AND INFLUENCE TO HELP THE COUNCIL TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF FACILITATION MORE EFFECTIVELY AND WIDELY, BOTH LOCALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY. +

CONFESSING THAT HE HAD NOT APPRECIATED THE EXTENT TO WHICH INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC DATA EXCHANGE BETWEEN COMPUTERS HAD DEVELOPED, SIR PHILIP SAID THE HONG KONG-MADE FILM WOULD +CERTA FNLY OPEN MANY EYES.+

+ I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SPONSORS FOR READILY GIVING THE IR SUPPORT TO A VENTURE WHICH HAS PROVED SO SUCCESSFUL. FOR THE U. N. TO PURCHASE A COPY IS A GREAT FEATHER IN THE CAPS OF THE PRODUCER AND THE TRADE FACILITATION COUNCIL, HE SAID.

THE COUNCIL'S FOUNDER MEMBERS WERE MADE UP OF THREE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND 13 OTHER IMPORTANT ORGANISATIONS.

+ IT IS STRUCTURED ALONG TYPICAL HONG KONG LINES, A PARTNERSHIP FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL.

+THE WORK IS CHALLENGING WITH MANY POSITIVE RESULTS, ALTHOUGH THE BENEFITS MAY AT TIMES BE OBSCURED BY THE LONG-TERM PROCESS INVOLVED IN ELIMINATING PAPERWORK AND THE FACT THAT INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IS NECESSARY BEFORE AGREEMENT CAN BE REACHED ON THE STANDARD ISATION OF DATA ELEMENTS.

+FURTHER, DOCUMENT FORMATS MUST BE AGREED AND SIMPLIFIED AND ELECTRONIC DATE INTERCHANGE BETWEEN MACHINESE MUST BE STANDARDISED BEFORE THESE MACHINESE CAN TALK TO EACH OTHER.

*ALL THIS TAKES YEARS OF WORK AT BOTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL, SIR PHILIP SAID.

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