XN000022-1990-06-26 — Page 6

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TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1990

SIR DAVID SAID OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS, HONG KONG WAS INEVITABLY GOING TO COME UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

THERE WAS ALREADY NO SHORTAGE OF COMMENTARY, MUCH OF WHICH FOCUSSED ON THE DIFFICULTIES HONG KONG FACED IN THE TRANSITION YEARS, SUCH AS "BRAIN DRAIN", "CAPITAL FLIGHT", AND SO ON.

SIR DAVID SAID HE HOPED THAT THOSE ATTENDING THE CONGRESS WOULD BE ABLE то SEE BEYOND THE GLOOMY PREDICTIONS ΤΟ THE UNSTOPPABLE DYNAMISM WHICH DRIVED THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG FORWARD.

"

HE "I AM NOT GOING TO PRETEND THAT HONG KONG HAS NO PROBLEMS, ADDING THAT THE TERRITORY HAD ALWAYS HAD AND WOULD ALWAYS HAVE

SAID, PROBLEMS.

IT WAS PRECISELY BECAUSE THEY DID NOT TRY ΤΟ HIDE THEIR PROBLEMS, OR DECEIVE THEMSELVES ABOUT THE NATURE OF THESE PROBLEMS THAT THEY HAD AGAIN AND AGAIN OVERCOME ADVERSITY.

"HONG KONG PEOPLE ARE INTENSELY PRACTICAL AND PRAGMATIC. SHOW THEM A PROBLEM; THEY WILL FIND A SOLUTION," SIR DAVID SAID.

SIR DAVID POINTED OUT THAT SOME 100 NEWS AGENCIES, NEWSPAPERS WHOSE COVERAGE AND READERSHIP WERE BOTH INTERNATIONAL, AS WELL AS OVERSEAS BROADCASTING CORPORATIONS HAD OFFICES IN HONG KONG.

MANY REGIONAL PUBLICATIONS WERE BASED HERE AND LOCALLY, LITERACY WAS UNIVERSAL AND THE DESIRE FOR NEWS APPARENTLY INSATIABLE, HE SAID.

"OUR POPULATION ARE SERVED BY MORE THAN 60 DAILY NEWSPAPERS AND

600 PERIODICALS NEARLY

CATERING FOR A WIDE RANGE OF SPECIALIST INTERESTS FROM THE EQUINE TO THE EPICUREAN, HE ADDED.

"

HONG

KONG

HAD A

AS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, SIR DAVID NOTED THAT DEVELOPED, THROUGH A PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS INVESTMENT AND RENEWAL, SOPHISTICATED AND TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED PRINTING INDUSTRY.

HE SAID THAT HONG KONG WITH ONLY 5.7 MILLION PEOPLE HAD

NEARLY ASSEMBLED

MORE 4,000 PRINTING ESTABLISHMENTS EMPLOYING

THAN 36,000 PEOPLE AND SERVED THE MORE THAN 200 PUBLISHING HOUSES OPERATING HERE.

"USE OF THE

LATEST TECHNOLOGY, ESPECIALLY IN THE FORM COMPUTERISED

HAS EQUIPMENT,

FACILITATED A HIGH SOPHISTICATION WHICH HAS, IN TURN, ATTRACTED SUPPLIERS OF PLANT AND EQUIPMENT TO SET UP HERE," SIR DAVID SAID.

OF

DEGREE

OF

SPECIALIST

AS

AN EXAMPLE OF THE VERSATILITY AVAILABLE TO POINTED OUT THAT HONG KONG OFFERED OVER 200 SYSTEMS FOR DATA AND PROCESSING, INCLUDING AN INCREASING NUMBER THAT WERE PROCESSING IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.

PUBLISHERS,

HE WORD

/"SMALL WONDER

+