Chief executive of hksar to visit sichuan for giant panda arrival arrangements with officials and ocean park representatives, expresses gratitude to central government
The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, and his wife, Mrs Janet Lee, at the invitation of the Sichuan Province, will depart for Sichuan Sunday (July 7) to deliberate on and understand the arrival arrangements of the pair of giant pandas gifted to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) by the Central Government. The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung, the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, Mr Mickey Lai, and representatives from Ocean Park Hong Kong will join the visit.
Mr Lee and the officials will visit the Dujiangyan Base of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda. During his visit to Sichuan, Mr Lee will meet with leaders of Sichuan Province and visit local facilities.
Mr Lee expressed his sincere gratitude to the Central Government, and his thanks to the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and the Sichuan Province for their care and support for Hong Kong. "I thank the Sichuan Province for attaching importance to the overall arrangements of gifting giant pandas to the HKSAR. To herald the importance of this, my wife and I will visit Sichuan in person. I will meticulously deliberate on and understand the preparatory work for receiving the two new members of the Hong Kong family. The HKSAR Government will endeavor to make good arrangements for welcoming the giant pandas," Mr Lee said.
Mr Lee will return to Hong Kong on July 9. During his absence, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, will be the Acting Chief Executive. During the absence of Mr Yeung, the Under Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Raistlin Lau, will be the Acting Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Hong kong implements food safety order in response to fukushima water discharge: extensive testing ensures safety of japanese imports and local catch
In response to the Japanese Government's plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor and step up the testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
From noon on July 5 to noon today (July 8), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 371 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the "aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt" category, in the past three days (including last Saturday and Sunday). No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS's thematic website titled "Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan" (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).
In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 150 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD's website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO's website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
From August 24 to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 65 635 samples of food imported from Japan (including 42 278 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 15 842 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests.
Source: AI-generated images
