Author Archives: hksar gov

     A new phase of the Arts Corner will be launched by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) in Victoria Park this Friday (April 5). Visitors can stroll around a wide array of traditional and trendy handicrafts and arts services stalls while enjoying their leisure in the park.
 
     The 20th phase of the Arts Corner in Victoria Park will run from April 5 till March 29 next year, and will be open from 10am to 6pm on Sundays and public holidays at the park’s South Pavilion Plaza. The Arts Corner comprises 19 handicrafts and arts services stalls, displaying and selling various kinds of handicrafts and artistic works such as fabric crafts, leather goods, floral artworks and ornaments, as well as providing cultural and arts services including photography and calligraphy.
 
     “The Arts Corner aims to enhance public interest in arts and enrich the arts atmosphere in Hong Kong.  It will also make the park a more appealing and enjoyable place for visitors,” a spokesman for the department said.
 
     Apart from Victoria Park, another Arts Corner and an Arts Fun Fair are being held at Hong Kong Park and Kowloon Park respectively.

     The 19th phase of Hong Kong Park’s Arts Corner is now open between noon and 6pm every Saturday and Sunday and on public holidays. It will continue until December 31 at the outdoor area near the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware inside Hong Kong Park. There are 10 stalls in operation including handicrafts stalls selling straw-weaving works, floral artworks, handmade soaps and ornaments, as well as arts stalls providing cultural and arts services including painting, silhouette cutting and portrait drawing.
 
     The 20th phase of the Arts Fun Fair at Kowloon Park is also open now, from 1pm to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays, until May 26 at the park’s Loggia. There are 29 stalls displaying and selling trendy craftworks including fabrics and floral ornaments as well as traditional arts products and services including painting and calligraphy.

     “The Arts Corners have been well received in past years. While taking a break at the Arts Corners, park-goers can also visit other facilities in the parks and spend some pleasant time there,” the spokesman said.
 
     For enquiries, please call 2890 5824 (Victoria Park), 2521 5041 (Hong Kong Park) or 2724 3344 (Kowloon Park).

    

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 is 103.4 (up 0.1 against yesterday’s index). read more

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, on Review Reports on Remuneration Packages for Staff in the Top Three Tiers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) after attending Session Two of a special meeting of the Panel on Welfare Services of the Legislative Council today (April 2):
 
Reporter: (NGOs’ remuneration packages for staff in the top three tiers)
 
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: … (inaudible) The Social Welfare Department will examine those data, whether they are comparable with the government pay. We understand that in a number of NGOs, because they do not have similar fringe benefits as provided under the civil servants’ arrangement, therefore they encash those cash benefits into the salary. So, in numeric values, we have to discount what we sometimes call “on-cost” , that is translated into salary of the NGOs’ staff. As a result, we do consider those salaries are comparable to the civil servants’ standards.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more

​     Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) hosted a seminar in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, today (April 2), encouraging Zhejiang enterprises to make use of Hong Kong’s international financing platform and its business advantages in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development to accelerate their overseas expansion.
                
     Entitled “Leveraging Hong Kong’s international financing platform for Zhejiang enterprises to ‘go global'”, the event was jointly organised by InvestHK, the Commercial Office of the Economic Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government (LOCPG) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province and the Zhejiang Federation of Industry and Commerce. It was also supported and co-organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai, the Zhejiang Province Belt and Road Service Centre and the Zhejiang Outbound Investment Enterprises Association.
                
     The seminar began with remarks from the Director-General of Investment Promotion, Mr Stephen Phillips; the Deputy Director-General of the Economic Affairs Department and Head of the Commerce Office of the LOCPG in the HKSAR, Mr Liu Yajun; Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province Mr Fang Liqun; and Vice President of the Zhejiang Federation of Industry and Commerce Mr Zhang Bilai.
                
     Mr Phillips told the seminar about the new business opportunities Hong Kong has to offer as an international business platform in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development.
                
     Mr Phillips said, “Operating under the principle of ‘one country, two systems’, Hong Kong enjoys the dual advantages of being part of China while maintaining its international outlook and role as international financial, transportation and trade centres with its own economic, legal and social systems and globally competitive professional services. Hong Kong has an important role to play in the Belt and Road Initiative. You can leverage Hong Kong’s world-class financial and professional services to structure and finance projects and mergers and acquisitions deals, and access the very best accounting and tax, legal, construction engineering design, management and project planning, as well as manpower training and much more. All this is underpinned by Hong Kong’s world-class common law system, which also makes Hong Kong a very suitable location for dispute resolution too.”
          
     He added, “The Central Government recently announced the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong’s contributions within the Greater Bay Area are unique. As the most international city in the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong will continue to play a role as a gateway for multinational companies accessing the Mainland market and as a springboard for Mainland companies seeking to ‘go global’.”
           
     Other speakers included the Head of the Investment Promotion Unit of InvestHK in Shanghai Office, Miss Ada Yeung; the Executive Director and Head of Commercial Bank, Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered Bank (China), Mr Richard Lee; the Head of the Global Capital Financing Department, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited, Mr Xu Zhi; and the Senior Vice President and Head of China Issuer Services of the Market Development Division, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Ms Silvia Chen. They introduced Hong Kong’s latest tax policies and InvestHK’s services to Mainland companies, as well as ways of financing and setting up corporate treasury centres in Hong Kong, the latest developments of the city’s debt capital market and securities market, and the advantages of listing in the city.
           
About InvestHK
 
     InvestHK is the department of the HKSAR Government responsible for attracting foreign direct investment and supporting overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services for overseas and Mainland companies. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.
           
     For an event photo, please visit www.flickr.com/photos/investhk/albums/72157704356950512.

  

     A landfill user who gave incorrect information to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) while he was planning to dispose of waste at the North East New Territories (NENT) Landfill was convicted at Fanling Magistrates’ Courts today (April 2) for contravening the Waste Disposal (Designated Waste Disposal Facility) Regulation and fined $2,000.

     A spokesman for the EPD said that the department received reports in mid-2018 that some landfill users delivered construction waste to landfills in the guise of municipal solid waste to evade construction waste disposal charges. The EPD then stepped up blitz operations against the malpractice at landfills. During a blitz operation in November 2018 at the NENT Landfill, EPD officers inspected the waste delivered by a landfill user during waste transportation. The landfill user claimed that he was not delivering construction waste but the EPD officers subsequently found construction waste in the waste he had disposed of. After investigation and evidence collection, the EPD prosecuted the landfill user concerned in accordance with the Waste Disposal (Designated Waste Disposal Facility) Regulation.

     The spokesman said that according to the Waste Disposal (Charges for Disposal of Construction Waste) Regulation, construction waste producers, including construction contractors, renovation contractors or premises owners, are required to open a billing account with the EPD and pay the construction waste disposal charge in advance for using government waste disposal facilities. In accordance with the Waste Disposal (Designated Waste Disposal Facility) Regulation, a person who recklessly makes any statement or gives any information in a material particular that is incorrect commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine of $100,000.

     The spokesman reminded the construction and transport sectors to strictly comply with the requirements of the law. The EPD will continue to take strict enforcement action to deter any illegal activities within landfills. read more