Month: May 2025

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Port Community System (PCS) project has been launched to drive smart port development, the Transport & Logistics Bureau announced today.

The system aims to promote digitalisation within Hong Kong’s port community, enhance cross-sector information interconnectivity, and advance smart port development, in order to consolidate and enhance the Hong Kong Port’s competitiveness and the city’s status as an international maritime centre, the bureau explained.

The PCS’ pilot data sharing platform began phased testing of specific cargo clearance processes in early 2023. After rigorous testing and optimisation, the Logistics & Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre (LSCM) will assist the bureau in the full development of the system, with installation to be completed by the end of 2025, and implementation for industry use starting in early 2026.

The system will provide round-the-clock, real-time cargo tracking, integrate sea, land and air transport data, and offer value-added electronic services such as the One-Data-Multiple-Declarations function.

Officiating at the PCS project’s launch ceremony, Secretary for Transport & Logistics Mable Chan said the PCS is a critical infrastructure for the future development of Hong Kong’s port and maritime sectors.

“Led by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and widely supported by the industry, the PCS digitally connects Hong Kong, the Mainland and the international maritime community.

“It will also help facilitate trade and capital flows, enhance Hong Kong’s resilience and influence as an international maritime centre to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex international environment, and serve our country’s strategic goal of becoming a maritime powerhouse.”

The bureau supplemented that it will also initiate a new phase of trial in collaboration with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to explore leveraging cargo status data within the PCS to facilitate trade finance processes, with a view to helping financial institutions and small and medium enterprises reduce credit costs and processing time. To ensure that the system aligns with industry needs, the bureau has established a Strategic Advisory Panel and an Industry Expert Liaison Group, bringing together industry leaders to provide insights on the PCS’ development.

Additionally, during today’s launch ceremony, the Transport & Logistics Bureau signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding with the LSCM and Guangdong e-Port Management Company. Areas of collaboration include exploring the use of the PCS to provide a pre-filling and pre-submission function for ocean manifests for vessels entering the Mainland, so as to provide further convenience for system users.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin visited Seoul National University (SNU) on the last day of her Korea trip today.

She exchanged views with the university’s president Ryu Hong Lim on deepening higher education collaboration between Korea and Hong Kong, and promoted the “Study in Hong Kong” brand.

Ms Choi said Hong Kong boasts a highly internationalised and diverse post-secondary education sector, adding that a number of measures have been put in place by the Government to enhance the city’s status as an international education hub.

Apart from striving to host international education conferences and exhibitions, the Government also encourages local post-secondary institutions to enhance collaboration and exchanges with their counterparts around the world in promoting the “Study in Hong Kong” brand on a global scale. It also attracts more overseas students to study in Hong Kong through the provision of scholarships.

In addition, the Government is developing the Northern Metropolis University Town to encourage local post-secondary institutions to introduce more branded programmes, research collaborations and exchange projects with renowned Mainland and overseas institutions in a flexible and innovative manner.

At the meeting, Ms Choi introduced to the SNU the various large-scale education mega events to be held in Hong Kong, such as the Learning & Teaching Expo to be held during Digital Education Week in July this year, as well as the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference & Exhibition to be held in February 2026.

The education chief welcomed representatives from universities in Korea to come to Hong Kong to take part in the events and forge collaborations and exchanges with institutions worldwide.

Ms Choi also welcomed students from Korea and other places to study in Hong Kong or participate in short-term student exchange programmes, and said that she looked forward to further strengthening education ties between Korea and Hong Kong.

Ms Choi also met Hong Kong students studying at SNU to learn about their school life and encouraged them to return to Hong Kong to develop their careers after completing their studies.

Today and yesterday, Ms Choi paid courtesy calls on the Chinese Ambassador to Korea Dai Bing and the Consul General of China in Jeju Chen Jianjun, respectively to introduce Hong Kong’s latest education policy.

Yesterday, she also joined a side event of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Education Ministerial Meeting to visit an elementary school in Jeju to learn about its experiences in promoting artificial intelligence and digital innovation education.

Ms Choi will depart for a visit to the UK tomorrow.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Protection of the Harbour (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 was published in the Government Gazette and came into force today.

The Development Bureau said the amended ordinance will more effectively regulate the Government in exercising its power to pursue reclamations in the Victoria Harbour.

The bureau and relevant departments are finalising administrative guidelines for the ordinance. These will be completed and published within two months. The amended ordinance received its third reading and was passed at the meeting of the Legislative Council last Wednesday.

Amending the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance, it sets out a clearer mechanism to regulate reclamations in Victoria Harbour, in particular large-scale reclamations, in order to protect the Harbour.

It also introduces a streamlined mechanism for small-scale reclamations that improve Victoria Harbour’s functions and harbourfront and for non-permanent reclamations, in order to facilitate and promote harbourfront enhancements.

According to the amended ordinance, harbour enhancement reclamations and non-permanent reclamations that meet certain criteria and are in the public interest may be granted exemption from the “Presumption against Reclamation” by the Financial Secretary.

Other reclamations in the Victoria Harbour will still be subject to the stringent presumption.

To rebut the presumption, it will be necessary to apply three considerations set out in earlier court judgment which are now incorporated in the ordinance, and to comply with the new statutory procedures.

These include preparing an assessment on a project’s “overriding public need”, publishing a report for public comment, and submitting the report and comments received to the Chief Executive-in-Council for determination.

The bureau stressed that even under existing arrangements government departments or other persons must submit proposals to carry out reclamations for consideration and approval by the Government.

It added that the amendments do not change the right of members of the public to apply for judicial review against decisions.

It stressed that the Amendment Ordinance demonstrates the Government’s commitment to protecting Victoria Harbour, and also provides a more solid legal basis for its long-term protection.

Moreover, it said the Government will have greater flexibility to promote better use of harbourfront resources and create a harbourfront that everyone can be proud of.

The Government has made it clear that there is no plan to initiate large-scale harbour reclamations to form land for housing, commercial or industrial developments.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau today chaired the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Health & Medical Innovation Development.

The advisory committee receives staunch support from the National Medical Products Administration, with Department of Drug Registration Director Yang Ting joining as official representative of the national drug regulatory authority.

During the meeting, committee members were briefed on the progress of the establishment of the Centre for Medical Products Regulation. The preparatory office for the centre is taking forward measures with the objective of putting forward a timetable for its establishment and the roadmap towards the adoption of “primary evaluation” in the first half of this year.

The measures include examining the need for new legislation, mapping out the strategies to reform the regulatory regime of drugs and medical devices, and advancing plans for “primary evaluation”.

The committee members also offered advice on the proposals for establishing the Real-World Study & Application Centre.

The centre aims to enhance access and application of health and medical databases, as well as strengthen collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland, particularly in integrating data generated by the use of Hong Kong-registered drugs and medical devices used in Hong Kong public hospitals in the Greater Bay Area.

This is to achieve three major objectives: accelerating the research and development (R&D), approval and market launch of innovative medical products; leveraging data to support evidence-based decision-making; and developing Hong Kong into a leading region and global hub for real-world studies. The Government strives to establish the centre by the end of this year.

Prof Lo said that the Government will strenuously work in line with the national objective of further reforming the medical and healthcare system and take forward the establishment of the two centres by complementing technological innovation with institutional innovation.

“We will fully utilise the institutional advantages of ‘one country, two systems’ and Hong Kong’s professional healthcare strengths to develop the city into an international health and medical innovation hub, thereby enabling patients to benefit from the most advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies and achieving the concept of bringing the benefits of good drugs and R&D to Hong Kong.

“At the same time, we aim to attract more local, Mainland and overseas pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises to conduct R&D and clinical trials in Hong Kong, thereby developing new quality productive forces in biomedicine and a new model for Hong Kong’s health and medical innovation development, so as to make further contributions to the overall development of the nation.”

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

The Protection of the Harbour (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 (the Amendment Ordinance) was gazetted and came into force today (May 16).

The Amendment Ordinance received its third reading and was passed at the meeting of the Legislative Council last Wednesday. The Amendment Ordinance aims to amend the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance (Cap. 531) (the Ordinance), and seeks to, on one hand, set out a clearer mechanism to regulate reclamations in Victoria Harbour (the Harbour), in particular large-scale reclamations, for protecting the Harbour; and on the other hand, introduce a streamlined mechanism for small-scale reclamations which improve the functions and harbourfront of the Harbour as well as non-permanent reclamations in the Harbour, in order to facilitate and promote harbourfront enhancement for public enjoyment and to strengthen harbour functions.

According to the amended Ordinance, harbour enhancement reclamations and harbour non-permanent reclamations meeting certain criteria and are in the public interest, may be granted with exemption from the “Presumption against Reclamation” (the Presumption) by the Financial Secretary under the streamlined mechanism to facilitate these works which could benefit the community.

Other reclamations in the Harbour will still be subject to the stringent Presumption. To rebut the Presumption, it is not only necessary to consider the three considerations set out in earlier court judgment (which are now incorporated as part of the Ordinance), it is also obligatory to comply with the new statutory procedures, which include: to prepare an assessment on the “overriding public need” of the project, to publish the report for public comments and to submit the report and the comments received to the Chief Executive in Council for determination on whether the Presumption is rebutted.

A spokesperson for the Development Bureau (DEVB) said, all along, if any government departments or other persons have proposals to carry out reclamations in the Harbour, they must first be considered and approved (if granted) by the Government in accordance with the Ordinance. The amended Ordinance will more effectively regulate the Government in exercising the power to pursue reclamations in the Harbour. On the other hand, the amendments of the Ordinance do not change the right of members of the public in applying for judicial review against the decision of the Administration.

The spokesperson said, the Amendment Ordinance demonstrates the Government’s commitment to protecting Victoria Harbour, and also provides a more solid legal basis for the long-term protection of the Harbour. Moreover, the Government will have greater flexibility in connecting the harbourfront and enhancing the harbour functions, which will promote the better use of harbourfront resources, and creating with the community a Victoria harbourfront that everyone could be proud of. The Government has reiterated that there is no plan to initiate large-scale harbour reclamations to form land for housing, commercial or industrial developments.

With the amendments to the Ordinance coming into force, the DEVB and relevant departments are finalising the administrative guidelines, which will be completed and published within two months. During the consultation and examination of the legislative amendments, the Government received a number of suggestions on how to improve the harbourfront on both sides of the Harbour. The Government noted the views received. Subject to the availability of resources, the Government will exchange ideas with various sectors, with a view to leveraging the facilitations brought by the streamlined mechanism for taking forward more works that are conducive to the public’s enjoyment of the Victoria harbourfront.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau gave a speech today at a session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) Meeting in Jeju, South Korea.

At a session themed “Prosperity through Sustainable Trade”, Mr Yau said that supply chains are the driving force of today’s global economy but are also highly sensitive and vulnerable to external shocks.

He outlined that Hong Kong, as an international shipping and logistics hub, has been implementing various measures to support sustainable supply chains, including “Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2050” and a roadmap for sustainability disclosure.

“In parallel, enabling initiatives have been rolled out to equip micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with the means to manage their environmental footprint and encourage market participants to improve sustainable business practices,” he said. “Funding schemes and capacity-building programmes have also been put in place to encourage the adoption of digital technologies by MSMEs to facilitate the digital transformation of supply chains.”

The commerce chief stressed that the issue of supply chains has always been an integral part of APEC discussions, adding that APEC’s role is even more important now than ever as cross-boundary trade and investments and supply chains face uncertainty and unprecedented challenges.

Mr Yau said he believes the collective goal of strengthening sustainable supply chains should never be a trade-off between sustainability and trade, but rather a synergy between the two. He emphasised that Hong Kong is committed to working with all member economies to drive progress towards shared prosperity through sustainable trade.

On the sidelines of the MRT Meeting, Mr Yau held a bilateral meeting with Japanese State Minister of Economy, Trade & Industry Ogushi Masaki to discuss various trade and economic issues.

Mr Yau will return to Hong Kong tomorrow morning.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region