Hong Kong, Peru strengthen trade relations
Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma and Peru Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Mercedes Araoz Fernandez, on behalf of their respective governments, agreed May 30 to strengthen trade and economic relations.
The signing ceremony took place during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Arequipa, Peru.
Mr. Ma said both governments have a shared desire and willingness to develop and strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations. The two sides will work toward the development of a cooperation arrangement on trade and investment facilitation, which will lay the foundation for future consideration of a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and Peru.
The arrangement will cover cooperation initiatives and encourage dialogue and information exchange in the following areas:
- Facilitation and promotion of trade in goods (including organization of trade fairs and exhibitions, discussion of regulations and standards such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures)
- Facilitation and promotion of trade in services in sectors of mutual interest (e.g., financial services, rail and maritime transportation, logistics and related services, tourism)
- Facilitation and promotion of investment
- Cooperation on protection of intellectual property rights
- Customs cooperation
Other areas may also be covered under the cooperation arrangement, subject to mutual agreement.
LegCo election nominations to open July 19
The nomination period for the 2008 Legislative Council (LegCo) election in Hong Kong will run from July 19 to August 1.
The September 7 election has 60 LegCo seats open — 30 geographical and 30 functional.
To run for a seat in a geographical constituency, a nominee must be at least 21 years old and a registered geographical constituency elector. The nominee must also have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the three years immediately before his or her nomination, and be a Chinese citizen who is a Hong Kong permanent resident with no right of abode in a foreign country.
To run for a seat in a functional constituency, a nominee must be a registered elector for, or have a substantial connection with, the relevant functional constituency. He or she must also be at least 21 years old, a registered geographical constituency elector and have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the three years immediately before his or her nomination. The nominee must also be a Chinese citizen who is a Hong Kong permanent resident with no right of abode in a foreign country.
However, 12 of the functional constituencies are open to Hong Kong permanent residents who are not Chinese nationals or who have the right of abode in a foreign country. These constituencies are: legal; accountancy; engineering; architectural, surveying and planning; real estate and construction; tourism; commercial (first); industrial (first); finance; financial services; import and export; and insurance.
The returning officers and assistant returning officers for the five geographical constituencies and 28 functional constituencies in the election have been appointed. They will handle the nomination of candidates and other electoral duties for the constituency under their charge.
Nominees must personally submit completed nomination forms to the relevant returning officer within the nomination period. Permissible times are during weekday business hours and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.
Nomination forms are available from the District Offices, the relevant returning officer's office or from the REO at 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. They also can be downloaded from the Web site: [www.reo.gov.hk].
Appointments made to HKSTPC board
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced June 20 the appointment of three new members and the re-appointment of four current members to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp. (HKSTPC) board of directors.
John Chai Yat-chiu, Tony Choi Siu-chow and Eliza Chan Ching-har were appointed new members of the HKSTPC for a period of two years, effective July 1.
Humphrey Choi, Locky Chu Kwan-lam, Tom Tang Chung-yen and Wong Ming-yam were re-appointed, also for a period of two years, effective July 1.
The term for incumbent member Wong Kai-man will expire June 30.
The HKSTPC, which began operations May 7, 2001, manages the Science Park, three industrial estates and the InnoCentre, and supports innovation and technology development in Hong Kong. It provides a comprehensive range of services, from nurturing technology start-ups through the incubation program and providing premises and services in the Science Park for applied research and development activities, to creating and sustaining a design cluster at the InnoCentre and providing developed land in the industrial estates for production.
Together with an official member appointed on an ex-officio basis, the board of directors comprises 15 members, including the chairman.
Observatory-run Web site wins award
The World Weather Information Service (WWIS) Web site [worldweather.wmo.int/], operated by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) on behalf of the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO), has won a prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award 2008.
C.M. Tam of the Hong Kong Observatory received the award in the City Hall of Stockholm on May 22, on behalf of HKO and WMO.
The HKO was the lead organization in setting up and running the English-language WWIS Web site. Each day, it receives official forecasts from National Meteorological Services around the world and processes the data for display in the Web site.
”They have a strong vision, global objectives, a robust sustainability model and demonstrate information exchange between national and international organizations sharing weather data,” the jury noted in its commendation.
The WWIS is an international cooperation project of the WMO and serves as a portal for official weather information worldwide. It contains official weather forecasts and climatological data from around the world.
The Web site provides easy access to authoritative weather forecasts for cities in all corners of the globe. Because the data originates from official National Meteorological Services information, it is reliable and accurate.
Currently, 118 participating countries/territories provide weather forecasts for 1,263 cities. Apart from the English version operated by HKO, versions in five other languages are operated by partners in China (Chinese), France (French), Oman (Arabic), Portugal (Portuguese) and Spain (Spanish). HKO also serves as the data hub, receiving data from around the world and redistributing the information to the five other hosts.
The Stockholm Challenge, an international competition held every other year, was first held in 1994. The objective of the contest is to promote the use of information and communication technology applications for development to help counteract any social and economic disadvantages. The WWIS was among 145 finalists in six different categories. It won in the Environment category.
|
