Hong Kong And UK Sign Agreement To Cooperate In ICT Ventures

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

14 December 2004

Hong Kong and the United Kingdom have signed a second Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on co-operation in information and communications technology (ICT) that will see the two countries collaborate in a number of IT-related areas.

The MOU, signed by Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (Communications and Technology), Mr Francis Ho and Permanent Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry, Sir Robin Young, will facilitate cooperation in many areas, including:

• Electronic government;
• Electronic commerce;
• Multimedia content creation and digital entertainment;
• Software applications and products;
• Internet and broadband networks and applications;
• Wireless and mobile applications;
• Digital broadcasting; and
• IT manpower development.

According to the Hong Kong government a wide range of collaboration activities are envisaged, ranging from commercial and industrial exchanges to investment and technology partnerships, and from exchange of policy and regulatory information to promoting joint research programmes and educational exchanges.

Praising the second MOU, Mr Ho noted that the agreement “marks the beginning of a new phase of closer and deeper collaboration between the two governments, particularly in such areas as e-government, wireless technologies and the creative industries.”

Hong Kong has a number of ICT related MOUs in place with other countries, including Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea.

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