TNAG-0735-FCO40-939-Policy-objective-for-the-developing-of-Hong-Kong-in-the-1980-1978 — Page 196

21

ww

FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DIVERSIFICATION

S We all attach great importance to the work of

the Advisory Committee on Diversification chaired by

the Financial Secretary. Hong Kong has grown and

prospered in a constantly changing world and has

repeatedly proved its ability to adapt to changing

circumstances. Indeed it is adapting and changing

all the time, both within traditional industries

and into new ones. So there is nothing new about the

concept or practice of diversification in Hong Kong.

Nor does the study imply any lack of confidence about

the survival of our traditional industries, since the se

have so often shown their capacity to maintain their

markets by diversification of their products or

industrial techniques. Never the less we must be sure

that change beneficial to the economy is not inadvertently

impeded by acts of commission or omission by the

Government or for that matter by the business community.

This involves study in great depth and detail.

56 The Committee has completed a study of the growth

and development of Hong Kong's economy over the past 15

years, and has tentatively identified the likely future

determinants of growth of the various industries that

make up our economy, including socio-political and geo-

political factors and the restrictive impact of the new

generation of textile restraint agreements.

It has also