Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Kevin Yeung has appointed Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing as Ambassador for Cultural Promotion for about five years starting today. As Ambassador for Cultural Promotion, Mr Xu will initiate a series of large-scale art projects in Hong Kong and nurture young talent to promote cultural development. The Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau said the appointment aims to extend the Ambassador for Cultural Promotion scheme to other fields of arts, after Chinese composer, musician and conductor Tan Dun became Hong Kong’s first Ambassador for Cultural Promotion last year. Speaking at the appointment ceremony today, Mr Yeung said Mr Xu is widely recognised as one of the most innovative and influential Chinese contemporary artists. The culture chief added that the Museum of Art collected one of Mr Xu's most well-known works A Book from the Sky, which contains both traditional and contemporary elements, just like Hong Kong
The value of Hong Kong's total exports decreased to $338.3 billion in April, down 13% on the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.
The value of imports of goods decreased 11.9% to $374.9 billion for the same period.
A trade deficit of $36.6 billion, or 9.8% of the value of imports, was recorded in April.
Comparing the three-month period ending April with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of exports rose 15.4%, while that of imports increased 10.7%.
The Government noted that the value of merchandise exports declined further from a year earlier in April. Exports to the Mainland, the US and the European Union all shrank and exports to other major Asian markets recorded decreases of varying degrees.
Looking ahead, it added that the weakness in the advanced economies will continue to weigh on Hong Kong's export performance, though the expected faster recovery of the Mainland economy should provide some relief.
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