Busy schedule for Tsang in Japan visit
Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will begin talks with Japanese officials today over giving Hong Kong passport holders visa-free access. Mr Tsang will meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi and Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Masatoshi Abe. He will also tap experience from the Roppongi Hills cultural centre, and brief politicians on the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with the mainland during a luncheon with the Japan-Hong Kong Parliamentary League. Shiro Sadoshima, Japan's deputy consul-general in Hong Kong, has declined to comment on the possibility of Hong Kong passport holders being granted visa-free access.
BUSINESS VOLUMES EXPECTED TO INCREASE
Business volumes are expected to increase across all industries in the first quarter of the year from the previous period, reflecting the improving economy, according to a government survey. The most optimistic industries are wholesalers and retailers, the banking, finance and insurance sector, and real estate, business services and telecommunications. Significantly more respondents said they expected more business than those who expected less. Manufacturers, construction companies, and restaurants and hotels were also optimistic, but to a lesser extent. The government polled 500 businesses between December 12 and January 12.
2 jailed for possessing counterfeit US notes
Two businessmen who admitted possessing 750 counterfeit US Federal Reserve notes with a face value of US$375 billion have been jailed for 16 months. Guy Arthur Marie Mathias Bermes, 58, and Sheung Kwok-leung, 63, had pleaded guilty to the offence but declined to reveal how they came into possession of the three boxes of counterfeits. Judge Richard Day said: 'That possession must have been with some criminal purpose in their mind and one, moreover, of some scale. It simply makes no sense otherwise.'
