The Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board (PMB) is gearing up its efforts to strengthen Hong Kong's attractiveness as the preferred international and regional logistics hub in Asia by launching a series of programmes in the coming few months. These include the commissioning of a consultancy study on Hong Kong's logistics development and PMB's support of four international conferences on logistics and port in February and March.

The PMB has recently expanded its website by setting up a section on logistics to promote the development of logistics services in Hong Kong and to facilitate logistics players to exchange information.

The website, entitled "Logistics HK Express", provides a quick reference site to allow express hot links to logistics-related organisations in Hong Kong.

The PMB has commissioned a consultancy study to examine ways to strengthen Hong Kong's role as the preferred international and regional transportation and

To help Hong Kong's transportation and logistics sectors to get prepared for the business opportunities arising from China's imminent accession to the WTO, the PMB is supporting four international conferences on port and logistics to be held in Hong Kong in this quarter.

China's Accession to WTO: Implications for Asia Pacific's Transportation and Logistics Businesses - Is it an Opportunity or a Threat?

This two-day conference, organised by the Informa Group, will be held on 19-20 February 2001 at the Sheraton Hotel. It is supported by PMB's Committee on Logistics Service Development (CLSD). Areas to be covered include the transportation and logistics opportunities in post-WTO Hong Kong and China; the supply chain management in China and Hong Kong; and the integration of inter-modal interchange and

The PMB's Chairman, Sir Gordon Wu; the CLSD's Chairman, Mr James Hughes-Hallet; the HK General Chamber of Commerce's Chairman, Mr C.C. Tung, and other top-notch experts of the transport and logistics industries from both Hong Kong and the Mainland will share their views on what transport and logistics players should do to meet the challenges ahead following China's entry to the WTO.

Terminal Operations Conference Asia 2001

With the theme of "Managing Growth with Intelligence: the Quest for Profitable Capacity", the conference will focus on the forces shaping global terminal operations in the 21st century and the terminal industry's ability to understand the world container trade and to plan ahead for future port development projects. This three-day conference, organised by the Informa Group and supported by the PMB, will take place from 20 to 22 February at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre.

(to be continued on P.4)