TNAG-0626-FCO40-774-Representation-of-United-Nations-Economic-and-Social-Commiss-1977 — Page 36

Address by the Honourable Q.M. Lee, C.B.E., J.P. Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils, liong Kong

at the thirty-third Session of the

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Paci

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,

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HKK 1.21/562

On behalf of the Hong Kong delegation, I would like to extend our

congratulations to the honourable Dr. Harka Bahadur Gurung on his election as

Chairman and to all those elected as Vice Chairmen of this Session.

2.

I would also like to express my delegation's appreciation to the Govern-

ment of Thailand for granting us the opportunity to visit this delightful country,

and to the ESCAP Secretariat for the excellent arrangements made for our participa~

tion in this Session.

3.

!

Mr. Chairman, we met last year at a time when we had just passed the world-

wide recession of 1974 and 1975 and were looking forward to some improvement in the

economic performance of the region. The resumption of economic growth of the

developed countries in 1976 gcnerated a substantial increase in the volume of world

trade, and, as a result, most members in the ESCAP region also experienced substan-.

tial growth over the past year.

4.

The Hong Kong economy in 1976 followed the general pattern of the Region.

The resurgence in the growth of world trade resulted in our economy experiencing

high growth rates. . The preliminary estimates of the Gross Domestic Product show

an increase of 16% in real terms over 1975. Our domestic exports in real terms

increased by 30%. This may be compared with our experience in 1974 and 1975 when

our-domestic exports in each of these years were less than that in 1973 in real-

terms. This is perhaps the best indication of the open nature of our domestic

economy and its vulnerability towards fluctuations in world trade.

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15. In recent

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