XN000022-1987-09-10 — Page 5

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1987

+

Tr

1986

AND

THAT

"WE LOOKED AT ELECTRONICS IN 1983, PLASTICS IN

ADDING SAID MR YEUNG, TEXTILES AND GARMENTS EARLIER THIS YEAR, A STUDY ON METAL FABRICATION IS NOW UNDER WAY.

INVESTMENT IN THE LOCAL SUCH OVERSEAS

AT

AMERICAN $5,669 MILLION, MANUFACTURING SECTOR WHICH REPRESENTS 36.4 PER CENT OF INVESTMENT, FOCUSSED UPON ELECTRONICS.

MR YEUNG NOTED THAT THERE HAS BEEN A SHIFT IN INDUSTRY TOWARDS

SURFACE MOUNTING AND AUTOMATION AND SPECIALISATION IN

APPLICATIONS SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS.

"THIS

HAS SHIFT

AL50 BEEN ACCOMPANIED

BY FRESH

U.S.

++

INVESTMENT, MR YEUNG ADDED.

H

PROPOSALS TO INCREASE INVESTMENT PROMOTION

PROPOSALS ARE CURRENTLY BEING DISCUSSED FOR INCREASING THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR THE INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT'S INVESTMENT PROMOTION WORK.

SPEAKING AT THE NORTH KOWLOON ROTARY LUNCH MEETING TODAY (THURSDAY), THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRY, MR IAN HOWARD, SAID: "IN PARTICULAR, WE SHOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO TARGET OUR EFFORTS MORE EFFECTIVELY, FIRSTLY BY DEVELOPING OUR RESEARCH CAPABILITY TO IDENTIFY SECTORS AND PRODUCTS FOR WHICH OVERSEAS INVESTMENT WOULD BE PARTICULARLY BENEFICIAL, AND SECONDLY BY UPGRADING OUR COMPUTER FACILITY TO ENABLE US TO TARGET POTENTIAL INVESTORS WORLDWIDE ON A MORE EFFECTIVE BASIS."

THE DEPARTMENT'S INVESTMENT PROMOTION WORK IS CARRIED OUT BY THE INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION DIVISION WHICH CONSISTS OF A "ONE STOP UNIT" HERE IN HONG KONG AND FIVE OFFICES OVERSEAS.

MR HOWARD SAID ALTHOUGH AT LEAST 85 PER CENT OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN HONG KONG IS LOCALLY OWNED, OVERSEAS INVESTMENT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OVERSEAS COMPANIES TEND ΤΟ BRING WITH THEM MORE UP-TO-DATE PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, NEW MARKETS AND MORE MODERN MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES.

"ALSO, ALTHOUGH OVERSEAS-OWNED FACTORIES

COMPRISE ONLY ABOUT ONE PER CENT OF ALL FACTORIES IN HONG KONG (ROUGHLY 500 OUT OF 45,000), THEY EMPLOY ALMOST 10 PER CENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKFORCE (86,000 OUT OF 870,000) AND THEY ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 16 PER CENT OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS.

11

MR HOWARD .****