*********************************************************
The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, today (June 18) signed an air services agreement on behalf of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) with the Government of Barbados.
Representing the Government of Barbados was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Barbados to the People's Republic of China, Dr Chelston W D Brathwaite.
The agreement provides a legal framework for establishing air links between Hong Kong and Barbados, which will promote economic and cultural exchanges between the two places.
"The Government of the HKSAR welcomes the agreement. This is the 64th agreement signed by Hong Kong with overseas aviation partners under our liberal air service policy," said Professor Cheung at the signing ceremony.
"To cope with our long term air traffic demand and to maintain our competitiveness as an aviation hub, the Airport Authority Hong Kong is now actively taking forward the expansion of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) into a three-runway system. Upon completion of the project, the HKIA will be able to handle around 100 million passengers and 8.9 million tonnes of cargo annually by 2030, up from 63.3 million passengers and 4.38 million tonnes of cargo in 2014."
A list of countries that have signed air services agreements with Hong Kong is at Annex.
Ends/Thursday, June 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:10
NNNN