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The Financial Secretary has also appointed Mr Yang Jian Gang, Director of Everbright Finance & Investment Co. Ltd. as member to the Panel. The appointment and re-appointments are made for the period of two years, from 11 February 1997 to 10 February 1999.

"The Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Ordinance was brought in effect on 1 September 1994 and requires, among other things, all companies engaged in leveraged foreign exchange trading and their representatives to be licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Under section 7(5) of the Ordinance, in relation to any dispute between a licensed trader and a client, the licensed trader shall, if the client so requires, agree to the dispute being settled by arbitration in accordance with rules made by the SFC which has set up the Panel," the spokesman explained.

"Members of the Panel are all bankers or senior staff of investment houses. Hence, they are knowledgeable in foreign exchange dealings and are competent to act as arbitrators in any disputes involving leveraged foreign exchange trading," the spokesman said.

End

External trade statistics by mode of transport in 1996

The value of Hong Kong's external trade by ocean accounted for 48% of Hong Kong's total value of external trade in 1996, according to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department today (Tuesday).

Another 26% was transported by land and yet another 20% by air. The remaining 5.7% included shipment by river, postal parcels and accompanied goods of passengers travelling on various means of transport.

Shipment by ocean amounted to $1,419.5 billion in 1996, representing an increase of 2.2% over that in 1995. Shipment by land went up by 4.4% to $752.8 billion in 1996 while that by air rose by 3.5% to $593.8 billion.

Table 1 shows details of changes in the value of Hong Kong's external trade analysed by mode of transport in 1996 compared with 1995.

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