XN000022-1995-05-18 — Page 12

- 11

"The strengthened rules and disciplines avert the previous practice permissible under the GATT, in which a contracting party could frustrate the adoption of panel's recommendations and their implementation by blocking a consensus."

Mr Wong's appointment is on an ad personam basis. He served a three-year term (1991-1994) as Hong Kong's Permanent Representative to the GATT and assumed a number of important GATT appointments during the period.

These appointments include Chairman of the Working Party on the Customs Union between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (1993), Chairman of the Working Party on Fourth ACP-EEC Convention of Lome (1993-1994), and Chairman of the dispute settlement panel tasked to examine the United States' tobacco programme in 1994.

He is well qualified for the task given his expertise in international trade policy formulation and first-hand experience of GATT/WTO matters.

End/Thursday, May 18, 1995

Domestic export statistics

In the first quarter of 1995, the four major industries of wearing apparel; textiles; machinery, equipment, apparatus, parts and components; and consumer electrical and electronic products together accounted for 68% of Hong Kong's total domestic exports of manufactured goods, according to statistics released today (Thursday) by the Census and Statistics Department.

In the first quarter of 1995, domestic exports of machinery, equipment, apparatus, parts and components increased significantly by 21% over a year earlier to $8.4 billion, and of consumer electrical and electronic products, by 20% to $8.3 billion. Domestic exports of wearing apparel and textiles both increased by 8% to $8.8 billion and $8.6 billion respectively.

As for other industries, significant absolute increases in the value of domestic exports were also recorded for professional and optical equipment (+$606 million or +19%); chemicals and chemical products (+$419 million or +27%); and basic metals and fabricated metal products (+$277 million or +14%).