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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, at a media session while attending the Legislative Council meeting today (June 4):
Reporter: Mr So, how would the latest retail figures affect the Government's review of the travellers' scheme?
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: As I said, this is a cross-bureau exercise, and we are quite concerned about the impact any adjustment will make on the economy, particularly as you see yesterday, the result that the drop of 9.8 per cent (in total retail sales value) is something that deserves our attention, and so we must proceed very carefully balancing the different interests of different sectors of the community, particularly, we encourage the business sector to express their opinion as to the way forward; also we need to balance any impact this may have on the normal livelihood of Hong Kong citizens. We must proceed very carefully. At this stage, we welcome different stakeholders to express their views, so that we could reflect these views also with the Central People's Government. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:52
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