ENG-1979 — Page 58

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

29

also toured European countries and several African countries as well as the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. Inward missions were also arranged for three groups of businessmen from the United States, Britain and France.

In Hong Kong, the council organised the Ready-to-Wear Festival in January and the Toy and Gift Fair in October.

The Trade Development Council produces four regular publications mainly for circula- tion overseas. They are the monthly Hong Kong Enterprise, the half-yearly Hong Kong Apparel, the annual Hong Kong Toys and the two-monthly news magazine Hong Kong Trader. Two documentary films to promote Hong Kong trade were produced during the year. They are designed to promote the local toy and electronics industries.

Besides its headquarters in Hong Kong, the council maintains overseas offices in 18 key cities London, Manchester, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Paris, Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna, Milan, Amsterdam, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, Panama City, Tokyo and Sydney.

Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation

The Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) is a government-owned organisation providing support and encouragement to Hong Kong's exporters. It offers them protection against the risks of not being paid by their overseas clients for goods and services sold on credit.

This is a unique form of safeguard in Hong Kong. An exporter can face problems of non-payment because of either commercial risks or political and economic risks. Commer- cial risks cover such areas as an overseas client's inability or unwillingness to pay owing to his insolvency, repudiation of the contract, or default. Political and economic risks include war, revolution, strikes, foreign exchange blockage and transfer delay, and can- cellation of import licences which prevent the client from making payment to his Hong Kong supplier.

The ECIC covers all manner of short term credits and payment methods such as open account invoices, documents against acceptance, documents against payment, and a range of letters of credit, up to a maximum credit period of 180 days after delivery. The corpora- tion's protection is also available for the sale abroad of capital and semi-capital goods sold on medium or long term credit with instalments over five years or longer.

The corporation provides its clients with a credit control service, and checks, through its international credit information network, the credit rating of all overseas buyers and its policyholders. Trading and financial records are kept of some 35,000 overseas buyers, and this confidential reference library is the most comprehensive of its type in Hong Kong.

Bankers who finance exports from Hong Kong also benefit from the corporation's services. Their exporting clients who hold one of the ECIC's policies can authorise the corporation to pay any claims to their financing bank. In addition, to assist in the funding of manufacturers who export capital or semi-capital goods on medium to long-term credit, the corporation is prepared to provide the financing bank with gilt-edged security in the form of its unconditional guarantee. This involves the full payment by the ECIC of any overdue instalments and interest, irrespective of what caused the delay.

As a member of the International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers (the Berne Union) the corporation has access to up-to-date and confidential assessments of the inter- national economic scene, and the technology used by other nations in support of their export industries.