XN000022-1995-06-14 — Page 22

The Policies and Measures We Pursue to Make Hong Kong Business Friendly

Mr President, through you I would respectfully ask Honourable Members to note that our economic policy is not one of positive non-intervention which is of course a contradictioning term and which I have never thought was a particularly clever slogan. Our policy is one of minimum intervention. Our policy of minimum intervention is balanced by a commitment to maintain the most business-friendly environment that we can. We make it easy to set up in business in Hong Kong. Our taxation system is simple and consistent, and levels of tax are very low by world standards. Regulations governing businesses in such areas as employment, the environment and health and safety are transparent and relatively uncomplicated. Our trade regime is straightforward; there are no import or export tariffs, and licensing controls are kept to the minimum.

In addition, we provide an extensive and growing range of services to equip both employers and employees to respond to the changing demands of the market place. As both the Governor and my colleague the Secretary for Education and Manpower have only last week outlined the measures the Government is taking to improve the employment situation over the short to medium term, I will not reiterate those. But I should like to reiterate that measures such as the Employment Retraining Scheme have proved to be genuinely useful in helping displaced workers to re-enter the job market. As the Secretary for Education and Manpower has undertaken, we shall review this and other measures to see how we can make them even more effective.

Since some Honourable Members have drawn particular attention to the need for active measures to help the manufacturing sector, I should like to mention some of the measures we are taking to help manufacturers to adjust to changing economic circumstances.

Now that Hong Kong is no longer a low-wage economy, it is inevitable that many lower value-added processes such as fabrication, assembly and packaging have been relocated elsewhere, notably China. If manufacturers are to remain competitive in world markets, it is vital that they focus on higher value-added activities such as design, tooling, pilot production, manufacture of complex components, testing, marketing, and distribution.

For this reason, we have, over a period of several years, pursued a consistent policy of upgrading Hong Kong's technological infrastructure and support services, in order to help industry move up-market. For example, during the last few years, we have established the Industrial Technology Centre, set up the Industrial Support Fund and the Applied Research and Development Fund, opened a new industrial estate, stepped up accreditation of local laboratories, and expanded the' services of the Productivity Council and the Standards and Calibration Bureau.

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