ENG-1982 — Page 42

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

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Other important light industries produce travel goods; handbags and similar articles; metal products; jewellery; domestic electrical equipment; electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances; and optical and photographic goods.

Heavy and Service Industries

Hong Kong shipyards provide a competitive repair service and build a variety of vessels. Several large shipbuilding and repair yards, operational but still under construction on Tsing Yi Island, provide services to the shipping industry and, more recently, the construction of oil rigs for exploration activities.

The port of Hong Kong, which ranks among the top three container ports in the world, handled approximately 1.69 million TEU's 20-foot equivalent units in 1982.

The aircraft engineering industry has a high international reputation and provides maintenance, overhaul and repair facilities for most airlines operating in Asia.

The manufacture of machinery, machine tools and their parts provides support to other local industries and also contributes to Hong Kong's export trade. Of particular importance are blow moulding, injection moulding, and extrusion machines of up to 9 070-gram capacity for the plastics industry; power presses; lathes; shapers and drilling machines; polishing machines; printing presses; textile knitting and warping machines; and electroplating equipment.

Industry Department

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The Director of Industry is assisted by a deputy director and four assistant directors who head the Environment and Resources Division, the Industrial Development Division, the Promotion Consultancy Division and the Science and Technology Division.

The Environment and Resources Division handles a wide variety of issues in its effort to look after the interests of the industrial sector. The division maintains close liaison with local trade and industrial organisations in representing their views to relevant government departments. Among specific subjects dealt with are the monitoring of raw material supplies (in particular fuel and other essential oil products), the provision of adequate infrastructural facilities including the smooth movement of freight within and outside Hong Kong at equitable freight rates, and the examination of the effects of environmental legislation on industry.

The Industrial Development Division is responsible for the policy aspects of industrial investment promotion, including the formulation of an overall promotion strategy. The division co-ordinates the organisation of industrial promotion programmes with industry and trade organisations. It also advises the government on industrial land matters.

The Promotion Consultancy Division is responsible for providing comprehensive infor- mation about Hong Kong to potential investors and assisting them in the evaluation and establishment of manufacturing projects in Hong Kong. Overseas industrial pro- motion offices are established in Japan, the United States of America, West Germany and Britain.

The Science and Technology Division comprises the secretariat for the Industrial Development Board established by the government to advise on the provision of industrial support facilities and technical back-up services, transfers of technology, and research and development; an Electrical and Electronics Standards Measurement and Calibration Laboratory which provides calibration service to both the public and private sectors; a Standards Branch responsible for the administrative aspects of product standards, quality certification services and accreditation of testing laboratories; a Weights and