A Government spokesman said today (July 30) that the Chief Executive (CE), politically appointed officials and Members of the Executive Council (ExCo) have updated their annual declarations of interests, and the updated declarations are available on government websites for public inspection.
 
     The updated declaration of interests of the CE has been uploaded to the website of the Chief Executive's Office (www.ceo.gov.hk/eng/links.html). The declarations of interests of politically appointed officials, made in accordance with the Code for Officials under the Political Appointment System (PAO Code), have also been updated and uploaded to the websites of the respective offices or bureaux.
 
     Information on the registrable interests of ExCo Members (including the President as well as Official and Non-official Members) has also been uploaded to the ExCo website after updating (www.ceo.gov.hk/exco/eng/interests.html).
 
     The PAO Code stipulates that politically appointed officials shall declare their investments and interests on appointment and annually thereafter. These declarations are uploaded to the websites of the respective offices or bureaux. The CE voluntarily observes the above declaration arrangement. ExCo Members are likewise required to declare their registrable interests on appointment and annually thereafter. These declarations are uploaded to the ExCo website.

     A man was convicted and sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment today (July 30) at the District Court for using express air parcels to smuggle helmeted hornbill beaks, in contravention of the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (PESO).

     Officers from Hong Kong Customs inspected two express air parcels arriving from Malaysia at Hong Kong International Airport on January 9 this year and found 27 helmeted hornbill beaks weighing about 3 kilograms in total. Upon a follow-up investigation, the 36-year-old man in connection with the case was arrested.

     Under the PESO, any person found guilty of importing or exporting an endangered species without a licence is liable to a maximum fine of $10 million and imprisonment for 10 years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

The following is issued on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund:
 
     The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund (the Fund) held a ceremony today (July 30) to award scholarships, totalling $6.31 million, to 14 young talents in music and dance to support them in continuing their studies in Hong Kong or abroad. 
 
     The 14 awardees are Miss Christiana de Blank, Mr Giuseppe Fu, Miss Fung Kai-sze, Miss Kwong Lai-ping, Miss Lai Pui-ki, Mr Lau Shing-ho, Mr Dominic Law, Miss Fifi Lee, Mr Luk Wai-chun, Miss Ma Cheuk-lam, Mr Tam Chun-him, Miss Meilina Tsui, Mr Wong Sum-ho and Miss Cherry Yeung. Thirteen of the awardees or their representatives attended the scholarship awarding ceremony, where they thanked the Fund for its support, shared their thoughts and committed themselves to making the best use of their opportunity to pursue further studies in Hong Kong or abroad. Some of the awardees gave short performances at the ceremony.
 
     Attending the ceremony were the Board Chairman of the Fund, Mr Douglas So; the Executive Manager of Charities (Projects) of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ms Winnie Yip; the Principal Assistant Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Sandy Cheung; Board members of the Fund, Mr Philip Kan, Dr Qin Rong, Mr So Hon-wah, Ms Selina Tsang and Professor Adrian Walter; and music audition panel member, Ms Rao Lan.
      
     The Fund was set up in 1980 with a $10 million donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for the promotion and development of music and dance education and training in Hong Kong. In 1994, a further capital injection of $22 million was provided by the Trust to meet an increasing demand for financial support. In 2014, the Trust approved an additional funding amount of more than $16 million for the Fund to implement a six-year pilot project. The project included the launching of a local postgraduate music and dance scholarship scheme in addition to the established non-local studies music and dance scholarship scheme, as well as the setting up of an awardees association for scholarship recipients of the Fund. To date the Fund has awarded 341 scholarships amounting to about $71 million.

  

The following is issued on behalf of the Transport Advisory Committee:

     The Transport Advisory Committee (TAC) was briefed today (July 30) on the smart mobility initiatives relating to road transport. 

     The Transport Department (TD) has recently published a Smart Mobility Roadmap for Hong Kong (the Roadmap) which integrates the five key objectives of smart mobility, namely Safe, Informative, Green, Mobile and Accessible, into the "ΣSIGMA" vision and sets out the smart mobility strategy comprising three interrelated key dimensions, namely Smart Transport Infrastructure, Data Sharing and Analytics and Applications and Services.

     The TAC Chairman, Professor Stephen Cheung, said, "Members note that the TD is taking forward a wide range of specific projects covered by the Roadmap, and would update the Roadmap in a timely manner having regard to the latest technological advances and the ever-changing environment of Hong Kong. Members welcome the Government's proposals to leverage technology for enhancing traffic management, alleviating road traffic congestion and optimising the use of limited road space in Hong Kong.

     "Members support the Government's various smart mobility initiatives, and in particular welcome the TD's proposals to conduct trials on the application of geo-fencing technology on vehicles in 2020 for enhancing operational safety of franchised buses, and the roll out of pilot projects to assess the feasibility and applicability of different types of automated parking systems. These trials facilitate better understanding of the feasibility of such technologies for wider application in the long term," Professor Cheung added.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (July 30) that the shark prevention net at Anglers' Beach in Tsuen Wan District has been repaired and the beach has been reopened.

     The beach was temporarily closed earlier for shark prevention net maintenance work.