ENG-1984 — Page 101

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

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introducing industrial automation. The board had decided to adopt a unified approach for the

purpose of co-ordinating effective implementation of the various proposals for industry support. In addition, the board was in the process of commissioning a techno-economic study on the plastics industry. Meanwhile, the three micro-electronics research projects undertaken by the universities and the Hong Kong Polytechnic continued.

Industrial Investment Promotion

The Industry Department continued to work closely with leading trade and industrial organisations to encourage local and overseas industrialists to invest in Hong Kong through a wide-ranging programme of promotion activities, undertaken by the One Stop Unit in the head office and the department's four overseas industrial promotion offices in Tokyo, London, Stuttgart and San Francisco. Major activities in 1984 included a series of industrial investment promotion missions to the United States, the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, Australia, France and Italy. The missions to the United States, the United Kingdom and West Germany included Hong Kong industrialists who took the opportunities offered to meet potential overseas partners and to acquaint themselves with the latest developments overseas in their particular fields. The missions to the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia were led by prominent Hong Kong industrialists. The Director of Industry spoke at three seminars in the United Kingdom, and also in Tokyo, Osaka, Vancouver (where he addressed the plenary session of the Pacific Basin Economic Council), Zurich and Cologne. Other staff of the department addressed audiences of industrialists and other businessmen both in Hong Kong and overseas on numerous occasions throughout the year.

Other events in the department's Industrial Investment Promotion Programme included attendance at the Hanover Fair, where, as in previous years, the department had its own stand, and other important trade and industrial fairs in North America, Europe, Japan and Singapore. The department's promotion staff overseas also undertook a programme of visits to different parts of their areas. These were designed to spread the message of Hong Kong's advantages as a manufacturing base.

In Hong Kong, the department continued to publicise its industrial promotion services locally, through industry and trade associations, contacts with individual industrialists and participation in seminars and other public meetings organised by local organisations.

Another essential task of the department's investment promotion staff, both in Hong Kong and overseas, is that of dealing with individual companies which have expressed an interest in manufacturing in Hong Kong, and of following up a large number of enquiries from potential investors. During 1984, the department received a total of 830 industrial investment enquiries world-wide, and at the end of December had 490 active investment promotion files.

During the year, work started on the production of a new industrial investment promotion film, designed to encourage potential overseas investors to choose Hong Kong as their manufacturing base in Southeast Asia.

Hong Kong continues to be an attractive location for overseas manufacturers. The United States remains the largest source of overseas industrial investment in Hong Kong, accounting for some 54 per cent of the total. Japan is in second place with 21 per cent and Britain is third with about seven per cent of the total. A survey in mid-1984 indicated that companies with overseas interests employed some 89 000 workers, or about 10 per cent of total industrial employment in Hong Kong. These companies had a combined output valued at over $27,209 million, of which over $18,618 million worth was exported. This