Skip to main content

Kowloon Park arts fair to open

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department will launch a new phase of its Arts Fun Fair at Kowloon Park this Sunday.   It will have 16 stalls displaying and selling craftworks that feature fabric crafts, floral artworks and ornaments. Park-goers can also participate in art services such as painting and portrait sketching.   The fair will be open from 1pm to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays at the park's loggia until May 26 next year.   Visitors can enjoy the park’s beautiful scenery while appreciating a wide range of handicrafts and artworks.   The Arts Corner at Hong Kong Park is being held from noon to 6pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays until December 31.   The Arts Corner at Victoria Park welcomes applications from today until June 23 for operating stalls in the coming round of the fair.   For enquiries about the fair in Kowloon Park, call 2724 3344. For questions about Hong Kong Park and Victoria Park, call 2521 5041 or 2890 5824 respectively. http:

Swap Connect to launch in 6 months

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today welcomed the introduction of Swap Connect, which enables mutual access arrangements between the interest rate swap markets of the Mainland and Hong Kong.   According to a joint announcement by the People’s Bank of China, the Securities & Futures Commission and the Monetary Authority, Swap Connect will be officially launched six months later, following the completion of preparatory work including finalising the relevant rules and system development, and obtaining regulatory approvals.   Swap Connect refers to an arrangement that enables investors to participate in the financial derivatives markets in the Mainland and Hong Kong through a connection between infrastructure institutions in both places.   It will start with northbound trading in the initial phase, allowing Hong Kong and overseas investors to participate in the Mainland’s interbank derivatives market through arrangements in trading, clearing, settlement etc between specified institutions in Hong Kong and the Mainland.   Southbound trading will be explored in due course, aiming to allow Mainland investors to participate in Hong Kong’s derivatives market through mutual access arrangements between specified institutions of the two places.   Chief Executive John Lee said Swap Connect marks another milestone in the integration of the Mainland and Hong Kong financial markets through introducing mutual access in the realm of financial derivatives products, enhancing the comprehensiveness of the product suit trading under the mutual market access schemes.   “I am most grateful to the Central People’s Government for announcing the initiative at the beginning of the new-term Government, which will bolster investors’ confidence in our country’s steadfast support to the development of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.   “The implementation of the initiative will further support Hong Kong in strengthening its functions as a global offshore renminbi business hub and a risk management centre in response to the targets laid down in the National 14th Five-Year Plan, while contributing to the high-quality opening up of the Mainland capital market.”   Financial Secretary Paul Chan said: “Swap Connect will help drive forward the development of derivatives markets in the Mainland and Hong Kong, offering more diverse risk management tool options to investors and enhancing the ecosystem for derivatives products of the two places.   “It will also be conducive to the development of Hong Kong’s offshore RMB market, thereby further consolidating Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre and a global offshore renminbi business hub.”   Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yue noted: “Swap Connect will create synergy with Bond Connect to facilitate global investors’ management of interest rate risks for their bond investment on the Mainland. The scheme will add to the depth and breadth of the opening-up of the Mainland financial markets. It will also create more opportunities for financial institutions in Hong Kong and strengthen Hong Kong's status as a risk management centre.”
http://dlvr.it/STJRs6

Popular posts from this blog

Legal officer changes proposed

The Government has proposed to amend the law to allow legal officers of the Department of Justice to be appointed as a senior counsel.   At a media session after attending a Legislative Council meeting today, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng explained the rationale behind the Government's proposal.   She said: “Why is it that my colleagues in the Department of Justice - who by their qualifications are solicitors but are actually arguing very well and very efficiently with great eloquence and efficacy in the Court of Final Appeal - are not being recognised when they are actually even better than their counterparts? That has always been something that sometimes troubles me.   “And for that reason, I have always been thinking about how we are going to overcome that problem.   “Now, what really triggers my determination to take this further forward is when one of our Deputy Directors of Public Prosecutions, Vinci Lam, took silk on May 29.   “That really showed that the form
Read more

124 COVID-19 cases reported

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating 124 additional COVID-19 cases. More cases were detected in Kwai Chung Estate. There are also more than 70 preliminary positive cases.   Among the newly reported cases, 33 are related to Kwai Chung Estate, bringing the total number of positive and preliminary positive cases in the estate to 276.   One more positive case was found after an earlier confirmed case occurred at Glory Court, Tsuen Wan Garden, both of them live in units 5 but on two different floors. The centre has co-ordinated with related government departments and conducted an inspection today.    It was preliminarily considered that vertical transmission of virus via pipes is involved.   The centre will issue quarantine orders to residents of unit 5 on all floors of the building who resided there during the incubation period of the relevant cases and transfer them to a quarantine facility.   As it is possible that virus might be ejected from the open
Read more

Govt explains vaccine surplus plan

The Government said it will discuss with the drug manufacturers on how to handle the expected surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses concerning this year's COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.   It made the statement in response to a media report which claimed that Hong Kong will throw away millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses due to low vaccination rate.   The Government noted that as at May 24, out of the two million odd doses each of the Sinovac and BioNTech vaccine which have arrived in Hong Kong, there are 1.05 million and 840,000 unused doses.   It pointed out that the BioNTech vaccine needs to be stored in an ultra-low temperature setting and the vaccines have a relatively short expiry date from the date of manufacture which is around three to four months after arrival in Hong Kong. The vaccines now in storage will expire in mid-August.   The Government observed that the public's demand for the BioNTech vaccine has gradually become sluggish recently.   Compared with the daily
Read more